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Putat sungei
Barringtonia racemosa
Family Lecythidaceae
updated
Nov 10
Where seen? This tree with hanging garlands of pretty pink
fluffy flowers is now rare in the wild. It is, however, being planted
in some of our coastal parks and reserves. Wild trees are found in
damp places near mangroves, tidal rivers, sandy or rocky shores, freshwater
swamps, peat swamp forests. And even banks of tidal creeks and muddy
ditches in rice-fields in Malaya.
Features: A shrub or small, straggling
tree (5-15m tall). Leaves (20-30cm) thin leathery, midrib and veins
often yellow. The leaves are finely toothed at the edges. Old leaves
wither orange to red.
Flowers large, pale pink with petals white tinged with pink. With
many pink stamens forming a pom-pom shape. The flowers emerge from
a long hanging spike (40-50cm long). According to Giesen, the night-blooming
flowers have "a very strong fragrant scent" and are pollinated
by moths and small bats. Flowering occurs year round.
Fruit (about 8cm long) egg- or pear-shaped, sometimes weakly angled
or with four faint grooves, green or flushed reddish. The fruit floats
and may travel in seawater for many months. Each fruit contains only
one seed.
Human uses: The plant contains a toxin called saponin,
concentrated mainly in the seeds but also found in other parts of
the plant. According to Burkill, the leaves are used in a poultice
for itching and chicken-pox, as well as to treat sore throats. The
young leaves are eaten raw in Eastern Malaysia, and in the Philippines
the fruits are used to poison wild pigs.
Status and threats: It is listed
as 'Critically Endangered' on the Red List of threatened plants of
Singapore.
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Planted tree.
Chek Jawa, Mar 09
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Chek Jawa,
Jul 08

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Chek Jawa,
Jul 08

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Chek Jawa,
Mar 09
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Admiralty
Park, Apr 09

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Chek Jawa,
Mar 09

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Chek Jawa,
Mar 09

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Links
- Barringtonia
racemosa on Total Vascular Flora of Singapore Online:
photos and fact sheet.
- Giesen, Wim
and Stephan Wulffraat, Max Zieren and Liesbeth Scholten. 2006.
Mangrove
Guidebook for Southeast Asia (PDF online downloadable).
RAP publication 2006/07 Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific Bangkok.
References
- Hsuan Keng,
S.C. Chin and H. T. W. Tan. 1990, The
Concise Flora of Singapore: Gymnosperms and Dicotyledons
.
Singapore University Press. 222 pp.
- Corners,
E. J. H., 1997. Wayside
Trees of Malaya: in two volumes
.
Fourth edition, Malayan Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur. Volume 1:
1-476 pp, plates 1-38; volume 2: 477-861 pp., plates 139-236.
- Tomlinson,
P. B., 1986. The
Botany of Mangroves
Cambridge University Press. USA. 419 pp.
- Davison,
G.W. H. and P. K. L. Ng and Ho Hua Chew, 2008. The Singapore
Red Data Book: Threatened plants and animals of Singapore.
Nature Society (Singapore). 285 pp.
- Burkill,
I. H., 1993. A
Dictionary of the Economic Products of the Malay Peninsula
.
3rd printing. Publication Unit, Ministry of Agriculture, Malaysia,
Kuala Lumpur. Volume 1: 1-1240; volume 2: 1241-2444.
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