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