Utania racemosa is a species of flowering plant in the family Gentianaceae. It occurs in Southeast Asia from Sumatera in Indonesia to the Andaman Islands in India.[2] Its wood is used for timber and fuel.
| Utania racemosa | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Gentianales |
| Family: | Gentianaceae |
| Genus: | Utania |
| Species: | U. racemosa
|
| Binomial name | |
| Utania racemosa | |
| Synonyms[2] | |
Description
editThe tree is a shrub or small that grows usually 3-6m tall, but sometimes as tall as 15 m tall. The trunk measures up to 18 cm in diameter, with smooth to slightly flaky or fissured bark.[1][3][4] The leaves are elliptic and ovate or lanceolate, they grow as small as 6 cm–30 cm long and 4–20 cm wide. Its surface is dark green, glossy and leathery.[1]
The tree flowers from ends of crowded branched spikes 6–14 cm long growing under the leaves. Each flower has cream-white petals 2 cm wide. In northeastern Thailand's Bung Khong Long Non-Hunting Area (Bueng Khong Long District), flowers occur from April to June.[5]
The fruit is oval and has a beaked apex 7–15 mm long and 8–11 mm in diameter, it almost similar to a coffee berry. It has a smooth skin.[1] When mature, its size is
Features that distinguish this species from other Utania are: rachis in distal half of flower-bearing part of inflorescence and infructescence noticeably thicker than proximal rachis and peduncle; above basal 1–2 tiers, flowering and fruiting tiers usually close-spaced, without clearly visible rachis lengths between tiers; lobes of calyx clasp tightly corolla or fruit base in dried specimens.[citation needed]
Distribution
editThe tree is found from Sumatera in Indonesia to Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and the Andaman Islands.[2]
Habitat
editThe plant grows in seasonal forest and tropical evergreen lowland rainforest, including secondary forest.[3] In Cambodia described as growing in dense forests on sandy or on clay soils at elevations of between 0-2000m.[4] In the unusual evergreen freshwater swamp forests known as choam in Khmer, occurring in Stung Treng Province, northeast Cambodia, Utania racemosa occurs as a rare understorey tree in permanently and seasonally inundated areas.[6]
Vernacular names
editIn Khmer, the plant is known by a variety of names: prôhu:t tük; tatraw tük; and häng tük,[4] and changka trong.[6]
In Malay, it is known as sepuleh meaning "restorer". It is also called kopi hutan meaning "forest coffee" because of the shape of its fruits.[1]
Uses
editThe wood of the Utania racemosa is used for construction and as firewood in Cambodia.[4] In Thailand the wood is also used for construction, but the trunk is also used to make chopping-blocks and the flowers are used to worship images of Buddha and offer to monks.[5]
Malay people make a special drink from its leaves to treat fevers and rheumatism.[1]
History
editM. Suguraman, botanist in Malaysia, transferred this species to Utania in the journal Plant Ecology and Evolution (147(2): 220) in 2014.[7][3] Suguraman and K.M. Wong (botanist from Singapore) have worked extensively on Gentianaceae.
Further reading
editAdditional information can be found in the following:
- Hassler, M. 2017. Utania racemosa. World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World. In: Roskovh, Y., Abucay, L., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., De Wever, A., Nieukerken, E. van, Zarucchi, J. & Penev, L., eds. 2017. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life
- Middleton, J.D. (ed.) (2019). Flora of Singapore 13: 1–654. Singapore Botanic Gardens.
- Pandey, R.P. (2009). Floristic diversity of Ferrargunj forest area in South Andaman Journal of Economic and Taxonomic Botany 33: 747-768.
- Sugumaran, M. & Wong, K.M. 2014. Studies in Malesian Gentianaceae, VI. A revision of Utania in the Malay Peninsula with two new species. Plant Ecology and Evolution 147(2): 213-223
- Toyama, H. & al. (2013). Inventory of the woody flora in Permanent plats of Kampong Thom and Kompong Chhnang provinces, Cambodia Acta Phytotaxonomica et Geobotanica 64: 45–105.
- Tropicos.org 2017. Utania racemosa. Missouri Botanical Garden
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f Tan, Ria (9 September 2021). "Sepuleh (Fagraea racemosa)". Wild Singapore. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
- ^ a b c "Utania racemosa (Jack) Sugumaran". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
- ^ a b c Suguraman, M.; Wong, K.M. (2014). "Studies in Malesian Gentianaceae, VI. A revision of Utania in the Malay Peninsula with two new species". Plant Ecology and Evolution. 147 (2): 213–223. doi:10.5091/plecevo.2014.971.
- ^ a b c d Pauline Dy Phon (2000). Plants Utilised In Cambodia/Plantes utilisées au Cambodge. Phnom Penh: Imprimerie Olympic. pp. 14, 15.
- ^ a b Siriwan Suksri; Siraprapha Premcharoen; Chitraporn Thawatphan; Suvit Sangthongprow (2005). "Ethnobotany in Bung Khong Long Non-Hunting Area, Northeast Thailand" (PDF). Kasetsart J. (Nat. Sci.). 39: 519–33. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
- ^ a b Theilade, Ida; Schmidt, Lars; Chhang, Phourin; McDonald, J. Andrew (2011). "Evergreen swamp forest in Cambodia: floristic composition, ecological characteristics, and conservation status" (PDF). Nordic Journal of Botany. 29: 71–80. doi:10.1111/j.1756-1051.2010.01003.x. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
- ^ "Utania racemosa (Jack) Sugumaran, Pl. Ecol. Evol. 147(2): 220 (2014)". International Plant Name Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 11 January 2021.