Schrebera swietenioides is a flowering plant in the family Oleaceae found in India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. It prefers dry forests. It is commonly known as weaver's beam tree.[2] Other names are mala plasu, muskkakavrksam, maggamaram', manimaram, mushkakavriksham, malamplasu and malamblasu. Flowering season is from February to April.[3]
| Schrebera swietenioides | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Lamiales |
| Family: | Oleaceae |
| Genus: | Schrebera |
| Species: | S. swietenioides
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| Binomial name | |
| Schrebera swietenioides | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
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Description
editLeaves are compound, imparipinnate, opposite, estipulate; rachis 5–10 cm, slender, pubescent flowers are bisexual, yellowish brown, fragrant, 1 cm in size, nocturnal, in terminal, trichotomous cymes. Stigma is shortly bifid. Fruit is a pendulous capsule, 5 x 2.5 cm, obovoid, loculicidally 2 valved. The seeds are winged. Capsule is the size of a hen's egg, and pear shaped.[4]
In Thailand
editIn Thailand, this species is considered a rare plant, endemic to only a few places, such as Phu Wiang National Park, Khao Kradong Forest Park, etc. It is known as yoni pisaj (Thai: โยนีปีศาจ, "devil's vagina") or hee phi (หีผี, "ghost's pussy"), because the ripe fruit looks like female genitalia. There is a local legend that says that, Maiden Orapim, followed the man she loved, Prince Panjit, the son of Khmer King. The two were separated by a large, fast-flowing river. Orapim was afraid that crossing the river would be inconvenient because she was a woman, so she prayed to place her breasts on the wild cotton tree (Bombax ceiba) and her genital on weaver's beam tree, and so she transformed into a man and continued to search for Prince Panjit.[5][6]
References
edit
- ^ theplantlist.org
- ^ Bagyanarayana, Gaddam; Ramesh, Polluri; Ono, Yoshitaka (December 2001). "Phakopsora schreberae, sp. nov. (Uredinales) occurs on Schrebera swietenioides in India". Mycoscience. 42 (6): 631–632. doi:10.1007/bf02460963. ISSN 1340-3540.
- ^ "Schrebera swietenioides - efloraofindia". sites.google.com. Retrieved 2019-01-20.
- ^ "Schrebera swietenioides - Weaver's Beam Tree". www.flowersofindia.net. Retrieved 2019-01-20.
- ^ Songkramrod, Bandit (2024-01-07). "ขะนุย ขะมอย ตำนาน "โยนีปีศาจ"". Art & Culture (in Thai).
- ^ "เปิดตำนานที่มา "ต้นโยนีปีศาจ" พบเพียงแห่งเดียวบน "อุทยานแห่งชาติภูเวียง"". Thairath (in Thai). 2024-11-01. Retrieved 2024-10-31.