Utania racemosa

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.[1] 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
(Jack) Sugumaran
Synonyms[1]
  • Fagraea malayana Mart.
  • Fagraea racemosa Jack
  • Fagraea thwaitesii F.Muell.

Description

The small tree, usually 3-6m tall, but sometimes 15m tall, trunk up to 18 cm in diameter, with smooth to slightly flaky or fissured bark[2][3] The leaves (elliptic-ovate to elliptic-lanceolate) are (6–)13–25(–30)cm long, and (4–)6–13 (–20)cm wide. The flowers grow terminally, in structure a many flowered panicle, corolla (petals) are cream-white. The fruit has a beaked apex and is smooth, when mature its size is (7–)10–12(–15)mm long, (8–)9–10(–11)mm diam.

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.

In northeastern Thailand's Bung Khong Long Non-Hunting Area (Bueng Khong Long District), flowers occur from April to June.[4]

Distribution

The tree is found from Sumatera in Indonesia to Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and the Andaman Islands.[1]

Habitat

The plant grows in seasonal forest and tropical evergreen lowland rainforest, including secondary forest.[2] In Cambodia described as growing in dense forests on sandy or on clay soils at elevations of between 0-2000m.[3] 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.[5]

Vernacular names

In Khmer, the plant is known by a variety of names: prôhu:t tük; tatraw tük; and häng tük,[3] and changka trong.[5]

Uses

The wood of the Utania racemosa is used for construction and as firewood in Cambodia.[3] 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.[4]

History

M. Suguraman, botanist in Malaysia, transferred this species to Utania in the journal Plant Ecology and Evolution (147(2): 220) in 2014.[6][2] Suguraman and K.M. Wong (botanist from Singapore) have worked extensively on Gentianaceae.

Further reading

Additional 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

  1. "Utania racemosa (Jack) Sugumaran". Plants of the World Online (POWO). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  2. 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. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  3. Pauline Dy Phon (2000). Plants Utilised In Cambodia/Plantes utilisées au Cambodge. Phnom Penh: Imprimerie Olympic. pp. 14, 15.
  4. 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.
  5. 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. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  6. "Utania racemosa (Jack) Sugumaran, Pl. Ecol. Evol. 147(2): 220 (2014)". International Plant Name Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
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