Pyramidanthe prismatica (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia
Introduction

Pyramidanthe prismatica (Hook.f. & Thomson) J. Sinclair

Protologue: Gard. Bull. Sing. 14: 362 (1955).

Family: Annonaceae

Chromosome number: 2n= 16

Synonyms

Melodorum prismaticum Hook.f. & Thomson (1855), Fissistigma cylindricum (Maingay ex Hook.f. & Thomson) Merr. (1919), Fissistigma prismaticum (Hook.f. & Thomson) Merr. (1919).

Vernacular names

Malaysia: akar pisang-pisang bukit, tepak (Peninsular)
Thailand: plao (Yala).

Origin and geographic distribution

Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra and Borneo.

Uses

In Peninsular Malaysia, a decoction of the plant is used internally to treat diarrhoea and snakebites.

Botany

A large liana with simple hairs; twigs lenticellate. Leaves alternate, distichous, simple and entire, oblong to elliptical-oblong, 11-26 cm × 4-8.5 cm, glabrous; petiole 1-2 cm long; stipules absent. Flowers axillary or terminal, solitary or in pairs, bisexual, regular, odourless; calyx disk-like, circular or obtusely 3-angled, 5-7 mm broad, pubescent outside; petals 6, in 2 whorls, valvate, free, outer ones (5-8 cm long) much longer than inner ones (c. 1 cm long), leathery, yellowish; stamens numerous, with slightly produced, truncate connective; carpels 6, elongate. Fruit consisting of oblong, tuberculate and pubescent monocarps 3-5 cm long, with stalk of c. 2.5 cm long, many-seeded. Seeds shining dark brown.

Pyramidanthe comprises only a single species that is incorporated in the large genus Fissistigma in older literature. It differs in the flowers that are not leaf-opposed as in Fissistigma , the disk-like calyx, the inner petals much shorter than the outer ones, and the tuberculate monocarps.

Ecology

P. prismatica is locally common in lowland forest, e.g. in southern Peninsular Malaysia, but may occur up to 1200 m altitude.

Genetic resources

Although knowledge of the distribution of P. prismatica is probably very incomplete, it seems not to be in immediate danger of genetic erosion.

Prospects

As long as nothing is known about the phytochemistry and pharmacological properties of P. prismatica , little can be said about its prospects as a medicinal plant.

Literature

121, 860.

Other selected sources

789.

Main genus page

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Authors

R.H.M.J. Lemmens