Environment

Areca catechu

pinang sireh, betel

SE Asia. Widely cultivated. Seed treats diarrhea, half-ripe seed pounded
for skin ointment. Mild narcotic, sliced endosperm of the seed eaten
with betel leaves, lime, gambier or cutch.

Areca catechu var. alba

pinang putih

This specimen from Dato Lim Chong Keat 6/05.

Arenga caudata

(tailed, bearing a tail)

Thailand. Distinctive wedge shaped leaflets with variously lobed and
lacerated margins and long drawn out tail at apex. Glossy green above,
glaucous below. Dense clumps to 2m. Previously known as Didymosperma
caudata.

Arenga pinnata

Thought to be wild in Assam and Burma, widely cultivated for gula
melaka. Massive solitary palm to 20 m with steeply ascending plume-like
leaves to 15m x 3m. Massive inflorescence, flowers from top to bottom
then trunk dies. Cabbage edible, fibre important.

Areca triandra

pinang

India, Andamans, Indo-China, Sumatra, Borneo, Philippines. Common
Areca in mountain forest. Solitary or in small clumps, rarely 7m,
crown shaft slightly swollen, green. Leaves with broad prominently
nerved, v. dark green leaflets. Pale inflorescence conspicuous and
lemony fragrant.

Arenga hookeriana

Borassodendron machadonis

Subfamily: Borassoideae

S.Siam, N. Malaya, NE Borneo . Stout solitary fan palms, broad flopping
leaflets. Dioecious. Inflorescences stout, little branched, amongst
leaves hanging from leaf axils. Male flowers in groups of 2-6, covered
in overlapping bracts, female much larger. Beware sharp leaf stalks.

Borassus flabellifer
lontar, tal, shu tou chung

One variable species from Africa to New Guinea. Not wild in Malaya,
monsoonal. Solitary fan palm to 20 m, dense stiff blue green crown.
Fruits to 8″ across, ripening yellow, with 3 hard seeds. Inflorescences
hang through split leaf bases, produce toddy & sugar.

Caryota mitis
rabok, tukas

Indo-China, Burma, Thailand, Andamans, Malaya. Lowlands. Clumping
fishtail palm. Poisonous with irritant crystals. Leaves twice pinnate
with fan like terminal leaflet. Only palm common in secondary forest.
Fluff from leaves and sheathes is used for tinder. Flowers down from
stem tip.

Caryota no
no

Borneo. Solitary fishtail palm, leaves bi-pinnate. Tree up to 20m.
Strongly ascending leaves up to 5m long & 4m wide. Lateral stalks
but not midribs often drooping, leaflets semi-pendulous. Inflorescence
2m long, cream flowers, fruits ripen to purplish black. Edible cabbage.

Cocos nucifera
niyor/kelapa

Pan tropic. Unknown in the wild. To 30m or more. Leaves 7m with over
100 close regular pointed leaflets held flat in one plane. Inflorescences
over 1m, flowers fragrant, attract bees. Produces material for all
purposes: building, medicinal, food, fibre. Can produce 365 fruits
a year.

Corypha utan

(previously Corypha elata syn.)
gebang, ibus

S. India, Sri Lanka, drier Malesia to Australia. Huge solitary fan
palm, dies after fruiting once. Tree like terminal inflorescence.
Trunk to 20m, persistent leaf bases. Contains up to 70kgs sago, lives
50 to 70 years. Leaves used in India for permanent documents, finer
than B. flabellifer.

Cyrtostachys renda

(previously Cyrtostachys lakka)
pinang raja

Malaya, Borneo. Common in peat swamp forest, clump forming feather
palm with scarlet crown shafts. Stems hooped, leaves stiffly oblique.
Inflorescence below crown shaft, branches, bearing sunken spirally
arranged flowers in triads, female flanked by twinning males.

Iguanura geonomiformis
terunok

Genera c. 20 spp., c. 6 in Malaya. This sp. endemic Malaya. Small
clustering, in forest undergrowth, leaves simple with deeply forked
tip. No visible crown shaft Narrowly branched inflorescence. Fruits
ellipsoid, white.

Iguanura sp.

Johannesteijsmannia altifrons

sal

Thailand, Malaya, Sumatra, Borneo. With tall fronds. Threatened by forest disturbance, seed harvesting, land conversion. Creeping sub-terranean trunk & cluster of up to 30 leaves up to 6m ling with petiole of 2.5m. White sour smelling flowers, corky fruits.

Johannesteijsmannia lanceolata

Johannesteijsmannia magnifica
sal, koh, lak

N. Sumatra, Malaya, Borneo. Stemless solitary, huge entire diamond
shaped leaf, glaucous back. Flowers spiral, white. Fruit dull brown,
thick wall, corky, knobbly. Largest undivided leaf blade of any Malayan
plant, used for Orang Asli houses. Inflorescence shown in the image
on lower right.

Licuala grandis

New Hebrides, widely cultivated, ornamental. Solitary fan palm.

Licuala spinosa
palas

SE Asia, coastal, often on landward margin of mangroves. Leaf blades
up to 1m across, radiating segments, narrowly wedge shaped and pleated
with central blades longest and broadest. Long arching inflorescence,
white flowers, red ovoid fruit, spinosa bearing spines (stalk).

Licuala sp.

Livistona endauensis

Livistona saribus
serdang, sar

SE Asia, in Malaya but absent from Negri Sembilan, Melaka and Johor.
To 20m. Leaves usually with some lower divisions down to central rib.
Fruits round 1-2cm, with thin fleshy blue green wall. Cabbage and
fruits edible.

Oncosperma horridum
bayas

Malaya, Borneo, Philippines. Leaflets held stiffly, whole blade vertical
or nearly so, lowland forest to 500m. Like nibong but clumps smaller,
often only 4-6 stemmed, young leaves held flat, while O. tigillarium
droops immediately.

Oncosperma tigillarium
nibong

Many stemmed clumps to 7m across, leaves arching, all leaflets drooping.
Coastal, and in hutan darat, brackish inland mangrove edge. Wood resistant
to salt water borers, used for coastal construction eg. kelong stakes.
Flat trunk strips for flooring. Fruit substitutes for betel.

Pholidocarpus macrocarpus
kepau

Malaya. Lowland seasonal swamp forest, along valleys, scattered, endemic.
Like Livistona exc. stamens form long tube free from petals, fruits
with thick corky cracked outer wall. Flesh orange with strong apricot
smell (edible?). Not all leaf divisions to centre, some only 1/3 way
in to stalk.

Pinanga disticha
legong

Malaya. Common in dryland forest undergrowth. Leaves V-shaped, simple,
dark green, marbled with paler patches. Fruiting head below crown
shaft (fruits in 2 ranks: disticha). Inflorescence simple, slender,
spreading spikes, fruits red, ellipsoid, spike axis sometimes red.

Pinanga malaiana
legong

Malaya, Sumatra, Borneo. Small clumps to 7 m. Leaves spreading, equally
spaced equal broad leaflets, 2 main nerves. Crown shaft prominent,
fawn flushed pinkish. Inflorescences pendulous with 2-5 stout flattened
8″ spikes. Flowers yellow-cream, fruits in 2 ranks, ripening
purple red.

Pinanga riparia

Thailand, Malaya, Singapore, Sumatra. Borneo? Clustering, to 5m. Leaves
60-90 cm, w/3-7 prs. falcate (sickle shaped) leaflets. Fruit white-green,
ripening red-black. Riparian, can stand periodic submergence. From
Datuk Lim Chong Keat 5.05.

Pinanga simplicifrons

Thailand, Malaya, Sumatra, Borneo. Miniature clustering palmlet to
1.5m. Few leaves at crown, blades entire, oblong, bifid at apex. Fruit
proportionately large, green to scarlet. Basal shoots/seedlings?colonies
in lowland wet/dry forest. From Datuk Lim Chong Keat 5.05.

Ptychoraphis singaporensis

(ke)rinting

Singapore, Johor, Dindings. Endemic. Slender clustering stems and
feathery leaves. No crown shaft. Inflorescence with 2 spathes &
several slender spikes developing in axils of hanging dead leaves.
Flowers sessile, yellow. Fruit fleshy, yellow to red. Seed linear
groove on one side.

Rhapis excelsa
China Cane, partridge cane

Sub-family Coryphoideae. SE China? widely cultivated. Origins unclear,
plants in Malaya infertile and believed to be all male. Propogated
for centuries from sucker shoots & used for umbrella handles and
walking sticks.

Salacca edulis
salak

Lowland, cultivated throughout Malesia, in Malaya rare. Clump forming,
prickly, undergrowth palms, growing as big dense rosettes. Leaflets
flat in 1 plane, evenly spaced but in sub-opposite groups of 1-3 with
irregular gaps between, ashy grey on lower surface. Dioecious. Edible
fruit.

Alstonia angustiloba
pulai

W. Malesia, common in open country. Up to 40m. Pagoda tree with terminalia
branching, buds concealed beneath bases of leaf stalks, often coated
with white or yellow resin. Flowers small, white and v. fragrant,
fruit a pair of long hanging pods, containing many small silky haired
seeds.

Alstonia macrophylla

pulai penipu bukit

Malesia. Selangor, Trengganu northward. To 30m, 2m girth. Crown dense, deep, not spreading or tiered. Leaves mostly in whorls of 4 (rarely 3), with distinct slender stalk.

Alstonia spatulata

 pulai basong

Throughout Malaya, except the north. Lowlands and seasonal swamp; common on deep peat in Pahang, and as small tree on old tin mines. Young trees have beautiful pagoda shape. Root wood, one of the world’s lightest (3 lb/cu. ft), used for ‘pith’ helmets. Tapped for latex for alkaloids in native medicines.

Dyera costulata
jelutong

 Big to huge unbuttressed tree. Terminalia branching, leaves in whorls of 6-8, thin papery wing surrounds seeds. Crown up to 45m across, emergent tree, yearly deciduous for a few days. Only species in the family to yield commercial timber. Latex for chewing gum during Prohibition, wood for pencils & picture frames.

Kibatalia maingayi
jelutong pipit

Common just north of Kuala Lumpur where forest remains. Soft and light timber, easily staining blue. Bark contains medicinal alkaloids.

Plumeria rubra

bunga kemboja

Central America. Flowers sweet, cool, fragrant. Used to prevent heat stroke & to treat enteritis & dysentry. Helps indigestion and poor absorption of infantile nutrition.

Willughbeia sp.

 Liana, seed dispersed by primates and birds.

Orophea maculata

bruas

Shrub or small tree, 8 of 60 spp in Malaya. This sp endemic, in Perak, Pahang & Selangor. Leaves abruptly narrow from middle to base.

Fr TH 6.2012.

Polyalthia glauca

mempisang paya

Malesia. Rare but widespread, usually in swamp forest. Leaves glaucous below, midrib sunk on upper surface. Fragrant flowers in clusters on tubercles. Polyalthia: many cures. TH 6.2012.

Polyalthia rumphii

mempisang?

W Malesia, all states exc Perlis & Penang. Tree to 20m. Closely related to P. jenkensii. Leaves to
20cm. 1 fr TH 11.09.

Polyalthia stenopetala

One of the largest genera, with over 100 spp. thru old world tropics and centred in SEAsia, 28 spp from Malaya, more to describe. Occur thru Malaya in lowland forests in understory as small trees or shrubs. Leaves glabrous with simple hairs. This sp. common except in Perlis and Penang.

Stelechocarpus cauliflorus

mempisang

Siam, Malaya, Sumatra. W coast & Pahang, rare. Lowland forest. To 15m. Leaf midrib raised above; flowers cluster on trunk or old branches behind leaves. Brown fruit ovoid, dispersed by animals.

Xylopia ferruginea

jangkang bukit

Siam, Borneo, Sumatra. Common all states exc Penang & Perlis. To 25m, fruits numerous, elongate, cylindric, like a string of beads with longitudinal folds when dry. 1 from TH 11/09.