Flora of Thailand

Euphorbiaceae

 

44. Hancea

 

P.C. van Welzen, S.E.C. Sierra, J.W.F. Slik & S. Bollendorff

 

Goto on this page:

Genus description

Identification key

Species descriptions

Key to the species of Hancea, Macaranga, and Mallotus

 

Hancea

 

Seem., Fl. Isl. Hong Kong: 409. 1857; S.E.C.Sierra, Kulju, Veldkamp & Welzen, Blumea 52: 362. 2007; G.L.Webster in Kubitzki, Fam. Gen. Vasc. Pl. 11: 128, Fig. 29. 2014.— Cordemoya Baill. , Spec. Euphorb. 2: 255. 1861; Sierra et al., Blumea 51: 524. 2006.— Boutonia Bojer, Hort. Mauritianus: 282. 1837, nom. nud., non DC., 1838.— Mallotus Lour. sect. Cordemoya (Baill.) Mόll.Arg., Linnaea 34: 186. 1865.— Diplochlamys Mόll.Arg., Flora 47: 539. 1864; in DC., Prodr. 15, 2: 1023. 1866.— Mallotus Lour. sect. Diplochlamys (Mόll.Arg.) Baill. ex T.Durand, Index Gen. Phan. : 370. 1888.— Echinus Lour. sect. Cordemoya (Baill.) Baill., Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Paris 2: 977. 1891.— Mallotus Lour. sect. Hancea (Seem.) Pax & K.Hoffm. in Engl., Pflanzenr. IV.147.vii: 199. 1914.— Deuteromallotus Pax & K.Hoffm. in Engl., Pflanzenr. IV.147.vii: 212. 1914.— Mallotus Lour. sect. Oliganthae Airy Shaw, Kew Bull. 21: 389. 1968.

 

Shrubs to big trees, monoecious and/or dioecious; branches with slender or conspicuously swollen nodes. Indumentum simple hairs and sometimes capitate glandular hairs with multicellular stalks, or sessile peltate-stellate hairs with a central cell (outside Thailand). Stipules axillary or interpetiolar. Leaves simple, alternate or opposite (strongly unequal or not), adaxial extrafloral nectaries absent or when present inconspicuous, venation prominent, triplinerved (or palminerved) or pinnate, veins scalariform, veinlets reticulate. Inflorescences ramiflorous, axillary, or terminal, unisexual to bisexual, with one bract per node; staminate ones with 1 flower per bract, bracts persistent to caducous; bracteoles absent; pistillate inflorescences with 1 flower per bract, bracts like staminate ones; bracteoles rarely present. Flowers actinomorphic, not exceeding 1 cm diam.; sepals persitent; petals and disc absent. Staminate flowers: sepals 2–4,, valvate, free to basally connate; stamens: thecae 2, parallel, opening extrorse, lengthwise; pistillode absent. Pistillate flowers: sepals (3 or) 4–6(7), valvate or imbricate, free; staminodes rarely present; ovary with 1 ovule per locule; style short, stigmas erect, above densely covered with short papillae. Fruits dehiscent capsules, opening along locules and septa, spiny, spines sometimes with terminal glands. Seeds (sub)globose, somewhat trigonous in transverse section, caruncle or aril absent.

    Seventeen species ranging from Madagascar, Mauritius and Rιunion to South China, throughout Southeast Asia and Malesia to New Guinea; four species in Thailand.

 

Key to the species

 

1a.

All or most leaves alternate. Inflorescences up to 1 cm long

4. H. subpeltata

1b.

All leaves opposite, but one of each pair (in some species opposite leaf stipule-like and when caducous, then inflorescence opposite to leaf. Inflorescences up to 15 cm long

2

2a.

Petioles less than 2 cm long

3. H. stipularis

2b.

Petioles longer than 2 cm 

3

3a.

Leaf blades hairy underneath

1. H. kingii

3b.

Leaf blades glabrous underneath

3. H. penangensis

 

1. Hancea kingii (Hook.f.) S.E.C.Sierra, Kulju & Welzen in S.E.C.Sierra, Kulju, Veldkamp & Welzen, Blumea 52: 364. 2007. — Mallotus kingii Hook.f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 5: 439. 1887; Airy Shaw, Kew Bull. 26: 295. 1972; Whitmore, Tree Fl. Mal. 2: 115. 1973; Welzen, Slik & Bollendorff in Welzen et al., Thai For. Bull. (Bot.) 28: 101. 2000; Slik & Welzen, Blumea 46: 18, fig. 7, map 1. 2001; Welzen, S.E.C.Sierra, Slik & Bollendorff in Welzen & Chayam., Fl. Thailand 8, 2: 402. 2007. — Cordemoya kingii (Hook.f.) S.E.C.Sierra, Kulju & Welzen, Blumea 51: 534. 2006.

 

 

Shrubs to trees, up to 25 m high. Indumentum of simple long and short hairs, glandular hairs, and few whitish glandular scales. Stipules ovate, somewhat falcate, 7–16 by 1.8–4 mm. Leaves opposite, one stipule-like; petiole 7–16 cm long; blade elliptic (to obovate), 11–31.5 by 4–11.5 cm, length/width ratio 2.2–3, drying brownish, base truncate to cuneate, margin slightly wavy, with marginal glands, apex acuminate to cuspidate, upper surface hairy on basal part of midrib, no extrafloral nectaries, lower surface with hairs on venation, no to slight pocket domatia, venation penninerved. Inflorescences axillary (to terminal), in axil of reduced leaf, single; flowers 1 or 2 per node. Staminate inflorescences up to 12 cm long, branching; bracts trapezoid, 1–1.7 by 0.4–1.2 mm. Staminate flowers 3–5 mm in diameter, (greenish) white; pedicel 1–3 mm long; sepals 2 or 3, ovately elliptic, 3–4 by 2–3 mm; stamens up to 100, filaments 2–4 mm long; anthers 0.3–0.5 mm long. Pistillate inflorescences up to 15 cm long, not branching; bracts trapezoid, 1.7–2.5 by 1.5–2.3 mm. Pistillate flowers up to 15 mm in diameter, greenish yellow; pedicel 4(–19 in fruit) mm long; sepals 5 or 6, ovate, 1.8–4.5 by 0.9–1.5 mm; ovary 3(4)-locular, 1.5–2 by 1.2–3 mm, echinate, with clavate hairs; style 1–1.5 mm long; stigmas 6–12 mm long. Fruits lobed capsules, 15–16 by 11–13 mm, green, densely echinate with up to 7 mm long spines; column 7–8 mm high. Seeds subglobose, 5.5–6 by 4.5–6 by 5.5–6 mm.

    T h a i l a n d.— PENINSULAR: Yala (Klong Mu Bo, Tarn Tho), Narathiwat (Waeng).

    D i s t r i b u t i o n.— Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia (type).

    E c o l o g y.— Evergreen and secondary forest. Altitude: 300–835 m.

 

2. Hancea penangensis (Mόll.Arg.) S.E.C.Sierra, Kulju & Welzen in S.E.C.Sierra, Kulju, Veldkamp & Welzen, Blumea 52: 364. 2007. — Mallotus penangensis Mόll.Arg., Linnaea 34: 186. 1865; Whitmore, Tree Fl. Mal. 2: 116. 1973; Airy Shaw, Kew Bull. Add. Ser. 4: 164. 1975; Welzen, Slik & Bollendorff in Welzen et al., Thai For. Bull. (Bot.) 28: 105. 2000; Slik & Welzen, Blumea 46: 24, fig. 10, map 3. 2001; Welzen, S.E.C.Sierra, Slik & Bollendorff in Welzen & Chayam., Fl. Thailand 8, 2: 420. 2007Mallotus echinatus Elmer, Leafl. Philipp. Bot. 3: 925. 1910.— Mallotus sarawakensis Pax & K.Hoffm. in Engl., Pflanzenr. IV.147.vii: 201. 1914.— Mallotus leptophyllus Pax & K.Hoffm. in Engl., Pflanzenr. IV.147.vii: 203. 1914.— Mallotus pseudopenangensis Pax & K.Hoffm. in Engl., Pflanzenr. IV.147.vii: 203. 1914.— Mallotus xylacanthus Pax & K.Hoffm. in Engl., Pflanzenr. IV.147.vii: 203, 397. 1914.— Mallotus papuanus (J.J. Sm.) Pax & K.Hoffm. var. glabrescens Pax & K.Hoffm. in Engl., Pflanzenr. IV.147.xiii: 19. 1919.— Mallotus papuanus (J.J. Sm.) Pax & K.Hoffm. var. intermedius Pax & K.Hoffm. in Engl., Pflanzenr. IV.147.xiii: 19. 1919. — Cordemoya penangensis (Mόll.Arg.) S.E.C.Sierra, Kulju & Welzen, Blumea 51: 534. 2006.

 

 

Trees up to 27 m high. Indumentum of mainly simple hairs, seldom stellate ones, few whitish glandular scales, mainly glabrous. Stipules narrowly triangular, 4.5–10 by 1–3 mm. Leaves opposite, one of each pair stipuliform; petiole 2–7.7 cm long; blade elliptic, 5–25.5 by 2–11 cm, length/width ratio 1.7–5.1, drying brownish, base acute to rounded, rarely oblique, margin entire to slightly wavy, marginal glands absent, apex acuminate, upper surface glabrous, extrafloral nectaries absent, lower surface (sub)glabrous, domatia ususally absent to present, venation penninerved; stipuliform leaves narrowly triangular to ovate, 1–4.7 by 1.3–2 mm, margin entire to irregular, apex acute to rounded. Inflorescences in axils of stipuliform leaves, single, not branching. Staminate inflorescences up to 12 cm long; flowers usually single per node; bracts ovate to deltoid, 0.6–2.5 by 0.4–2.5 mm. Staminate flowers 3.7–5.5 mm in diameter, greenish-white to red; pedicel 2–3 mm long; sepals 3 or 4, ovate to elliptic, 2–5 by 2–2.5 mm; stamens up to 100, white to yellow, filaments 3–4 mm long, anthers 0.6–0.7 mm long. Pistillate inflorescences up to 12 cm long; bracts (broadly) ovate, 0.9–2 by 0.8–1.1 mm. Pistillate flowers: pedicels up to 10 mm long; sepals 4–6, narrowly triangular, 2–7 by 0.5–1.2 mm; ovary 3-locular, echinate, densely woolly, spines 0.7–5 mm long; style 0.7–1 mm long, stigmas 5–16 mm long. Fruits lobed capsules, 9–15 by 6–14 mm, pinkish to red, sparsely echinate with spines up to 2 mm long; column 3.5–7 mm long. Seeds subglobular, 4.5–7 by 3–6.5 by 2.5–8 mm.

    T h a i l a n d.— PENINSULAR: Narathiwat (Bala-Hala).

    D i s t r i b u t i o n.— Thailand, Vietnam, Peninsular Malaysia (type), Sumatra, Philippines, Sulawesi, Moluccas, New Guinea.

    E c o l o g y.— In understorey of evergreen and (late) secondary forest, sometimes in young secondary forest or scrubs, usually along water in mainly well drained terrain; soils very variable, from clay, sand, loam, sandstone, limestone, alluvial. Altitude up to 1700 m.

    U s e s.— The leaves are used for "sakit kepala" (headache) in Sumatra; the wood has a faint sweet aroma, is used to light fires and in house construction (Malaysia).

 

3. Hancea stipularis (Meijer ex Airy Shaw) S.E.C.Sierra, Kulju & Welzen in S.E.C.Sierra, Kulju, Veldkamp & Welzen, Blumea 52: 364. 2007. — Mallotus stipularis Airy Shaw, Kew Bull. 21: 398. 1968; Kew Bull. 26: 296. 1972; Kew Bull. Add. Ser. 4: 164. 1975; Welzen, Slik & Bollendorff in Welzen et al., Thai For. Bull. (Bot.) 28: 109. 2000; Slik & Welzen, Blumea 46: 24, fig. 11, map 4. 2001; Welzen, S.E.C.Sierra, Slik & Bollendorff in Welzen & Chayam., Fl. Thailand 8, 2: 429, Fig. 36. 2007. — Cordemoya stipularis (Meijer ex Airy Shaw) S.E.C.Sierra, Kulju & Welzen, Blumea 51: 534. 2006

 

 

Shrubs to trees, up to 17(–27) m high. Indumentum of simple hairs only, glandular scales few, whitish. Stipules narrowly ovate to ovate to linear, 7–13 by 1–3.5 mm. Leaves opposite, one of each pair stipuliform reduced; petiole 0.4–1.6 cm long; blade elliptic to obovate, 6.5–23 by 2–8.8 cm, length/width ratio 2.5–4, drying brownish, base obtuse to slightly cordate, oblique, margin subentire to apically glandularly dentate or serrate, apex cuspidate, upper surface glabrous, extrafloral nectaries absent, lower surface mainly pilose on venation, pockets with hair tufts in nerve axils, venation penninerved; stipuliform leaves linear to narrowly ovate, 4–10 by 1.5–2.5 mm, margin entire to wavy, apex rounded to acute. Inflorescences axillary (to terminal), in axil of reduced leaf, single, not branching; flowers single per node. Staminate inflorescences up to 5 cm long; bracts ovate, c. 1.1 by 0.6 mm. Staminate flowers c. 4.5 mm in diameter, green-yellow to reddish; pedicel 1–2 mm long; sepals 3, elliptic, c. 3 by 2 mm; stamens c. 55, filaments c. 2 mm long; anthers c. 0.4 mm high. Pistillate inflorescences up to 8 cm long; bracts (narrowly) ovate, 1.5–4 by c. 1 mm. Pistillate flowers c. 7 mm in diameter, white; pedicel 3–4.5 mm long; sepals 3–6, ovate to linear, 4–7 by 0.6–1.5 mm; ovary 3-locular, woolly, shortly echinate, c. 1 by 2 mm; style 1–2.5 mm long; stigmas 6–11 mm long. Fruits lobed capsules, 10–15 by 5–10 mm, woolly, greenish, sparsely echinate, spines up to 2 mm long; column 4.5–5 mm long. Seeds subglobose, c. 5 mm in diameter.

    T h a i l a n d.— PENINSULAR: Ranong (Ko Phota Lung Keo), Satun (Ko Keo, Klong Ton), Pattani (Ko Kalakiri).

    D i s t r i b u t i o n.— Thailand, Sumatra (type), Borneo.

    E c o l o g y.— Mainly in evergreen but also secondary forest; along roads, rivers, forest edges, in regrowths; soils: alluvial, basalt derived, clayey or sandy. Altitude: 400–1100 m.

    V e r n a c u l a r.— Nut (นูด) (Ranong).

 

4. Hancea subpeltata (Blume) M.Aparicio in S.E.C.Sierra, Kulju, Veldkamp & Welzen, Blumea 52: 364. 2007.  —  Adisca subpeltata Blume, Bijdr.: 610. 1825. — Rottlera subpeltata (Blume) Baill., Ιt. Gιn. Euphorb.: 423. 1858.— Mappa rhynchophylla Miq., Fl. Ind. Bat. 1, 2: 394. 1859.— Rottlera rhynchophylla (Miq.) Miq., Fl. Ind. Bat. Suppl.: 181, 454. 1861.— Mallotus subpeltatus (Blume) Mόll.Arg., Linnaea 34: 189. 1865; Hook.f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 5: 433. 1887; Airy Shaw, Kew Bull. 21: 390. 1968; Kew Bull. 26: 299. 1972; Whitmore, Tree Fl. Mal. 2: 116. 1973; Welzen, Slik & Bollendorff in Welzen et al., Thai For. Bull. (Bot.) 28: 109. 2000; Welzen, S.E.C.Sierra, Slik & Bollendorff in Welzen & Chayam., Fl. Thailand 8, 2: 431, Fig. 37. 2007Cordemoya subpeltata (Blume) M.Aparicio, Blumea 51: 535, fig. 6, map 2. 2006.

 

       

 

Undershrubs to trees, up to 10(–18) m high. Indumentum of simple short and long hairs, stellate hairs extremely seldom, glandular scales absent. Stipules ovate, falcate, 4–8.3 by 0.8–4 mm. Leaves alternate; petiole 2.3–9 cm long; blade ovate to elliptic 7.5–24 by 2.7–9.2 cm, length/width ratio 2.6–2.8, usually drying brownish, base narrowly emarginate to rounded, usually several to all leaves slightly peltate to up to 2 mm, margin entire, apex caudate, upper surface glabrous, lacking extrafloral nectaries, lower surface hairy in nerve and vein axils and along veins, venation triplinerved to palmate. Inflorescences ramiflorous to axillary, single (or 2 together), up to 1 cm long, unbranched. Staminate inflorescences with flowers up to 6, all single per node; bracts ovate, 1.6–4 by c. 1.2 mm. Staminate flowers 5–7.5 mm in diameter, white to yellow; pedicel 5–6.5 mm long; sepals 3(4), 4.2–5 by 2.8–3.5 mm; stamens 200–250, filaments 1.5–1.8 mm long, whitish, anthers c. 0.4 mm long, cream. Pistillate inflorescences with a single terminal flower; bracts several, patent, ovate, c. 4 by 1.2 mm. Pistillate flowers c. 12 mm in diameter; pedicel c. 0.7 mm long; sepals 5, ovate, 6–8.3 by 1.3–2.3 mm, light yellowish; ovary 3-locular, c. 1 by 3.5 mm (spines included), densely spined, light yellowish; style 0.7–1 mm long; stigmas 13–22 mm long. Fruits lobed capsules, 1.8–2.5 by 1.2–1.4 cm, light green, velutinous, densely covered with spines, latter soft, up to 9 mm long; column c. 9 mm long. Seeds subglobose, 9–12 by 8–10 by 7–9 mm.

    T h a i l a n d.— PENINSULAR: Chumphon (Ko Pang, Pa To), Ranong (Khao Nam Ron, Kraburi, Phato), Krabi (Ao Luk, Ko Panom), Nakhon Si Thammarat (Khao Luang), Phatthalung (Khao Boo-Khao Ya), Trang (Khao Chang, Outong), Satun (Nam Rah), Songkhla (Ko Hong), Pattani (Banang Sta), Yala (Kue Long).

    D i s t r i b u t i o n.— Lower Myanmar, Peninsular Thailand, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java (type).

    E c o l o g y.— From cleared forest, open thickets to secondary forest, to dry to wet evergreen forest, often along forest margin or stream; soil: limestone, granitic bedrock. Altitude: 0–450 m.

    V e r n a c u l a r.— Cha ngo phi (ช้าเงาะผี), Dan mi (ดันหมี), Han ton (หันต้น), (Nakhon Si Thammarat); Raeo (แร้ว) (Phuket).