Alangium nobile (C.B.Clarke) Harms

Dewilde, W. J. J. O. & Duyfjes, B. E. E., 2017, Taxonomy of Alangium section Conostigma (Alangiaceae), Blumea 62 (1), pp. 29-46 : 40

14. Alangium nobile (C.B.Clarke) Harms — Fig. 4

Alangium nobile (C.B.Clarke) Harms (1898) 262; King (1902) 79; Wangerin (1910) 11; Ridl. (1922) 892; Bloemb. (1935) 276, f. 4a‒f; (1939) 211, f. 9a‒e; Berhaman (1994) 32; (1995) 13; Argent (in Argent et al. 1997) 7, f. 3. — Marlea nobilis C.B. Clarke (1879) 743. — Lectotype (designated by Berhaman 1994): Griffith 3385 (K K000077038;iso BM BM000944964,C, P 2 sheets P P00542816,P00542817,U 2 sheets U.1230478, U.1230480), Malay Peninsula, Malacca.

Tree 20–45 m tall; twigs brown, irregularly angular, 3–8 mm diam, brown-hairy (hairs 0.2–0.5 mm long, late glabrescent; leaf bud densely hairy, hairs c. 0.5 mm long. Leaves: petiole 1.5–4.5 cm long; lamina drying greenish brown or brown, glabrescent above, densely hairy below (hairs 0.3–0.5(–1) mm long), ovate or (broadly) elliptic or obovate, rarely subcircular, 6‒35(‒45) by 5‒22 cm, base asymmetric, cordate (rarely ± rounded), apex broadly rounded, sometimes with short acumen c. 0.5 cm long; venation 3–5-plinerved at base, lateral pinnate veins 6–10 at each side, (not) neatly loop-veined; tertiary venation thin or stout, mostly distinctly scalariform. Inflorescences densely hairy, of (1 or) 2 or 3 subsessile or stalked (peduncle) cluster-like cymes from the leaf axil, each 2–4-branched, (1- or) 2- or 3-flowered; peduncle (s) to 20(–30) mm long. Flowers densely hairy, subsessile; pedicel c. 1 mm long; corolla in bud 10–15 mm long, base swollen, apex blunt or subacute; ovary and calyx c. 4 mm long, coarsely 5-ribbed; limb c. 2 mm long, at margin 4–6 mm wide, lobes 5 (or 6), stout, long-triangular, 1.5–2 mm long; petals 5 (or 6), inside largely short grey-hairy, 10–15 mm long; stamens 5, filament c. 1 mm long, densely hairy in lower half, glabrous in upper half, anther c. 5 mm long, connective glabrous; style densely hairy, c. 10 mm long, stigma narrowly conical. Fruit 1 or 2 (or more?) per infructescence, ripening (greenish) yellow or reddish, densely rusty hairy (hairs c. 0.5 mm long), ellipsoid, 25–30 by 15–20 mm, c. 10-ribbed; calyx remnant as calyx in flower.

Distribution — Sumatra (Palembang), Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Borneo ( Sarawak, Sabah, Kalimantan).

Habitat & Ecology — In lowland dry forest, mixed dipterocarp forest, ridge bamboo forest, hill slope in kerangas forest, and along river banks; on sandstone, yellow clay, clayey soil, yellow sandy soil; from sea level to 700 m altitude; flowering and fruiting all year round.

Field-notes — A very handsome large tree; plank buttresses 2 m high extending to 2 m over the ground, narrow; bole fluted to 5 m; bark smooth, thin; fruit reddish.

Vernacular names — Mata oedang (Medang), Midong (Iban), Malapang gunung.

Note — In the inflorescences the terminal (axillary) bud is usually obvious and the bracts (bracteoles) are to 5 mm long.

Figures

Fig. 4 Alangium nobile (C.B.Clarke) Harms. a. Portion of flowering branch; b. node with (compound) inflorescence; c. flower bud; d. open flower; e. stamen; f. style and stigma; g. view of calyx limb and disc on top of ovary, after removal of style; h. fruit (a‒g: Teo & Pachiappan KL 3131; h: Kostermans 9971, all L). — Drawn by Jan van Os.