Xerospermum noronhianum [1] is a common Asian tree species described by Carl Ludwig von Blume: it is the type species in the genus and belongs to the Family Sapindaceae.[2] X. noronhianum Blume is the accepted name[3] and there are no subspecies listed in the Catalogue of Life. Morphologically, it is a very variable species, found in many kinds of tropical forests and soils, usually below 300 m altitude and rarely above 1000 m. Its light brown wood is hard and durable, often used in the construction of buildings.
| Xerospermum noronhianum | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Sapindales |
| Family: | Sapindaceae |
| Genus: | Xerospermum |
| Species: | X. noronhianum
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| Binomial name | |
| Xerospermum noronhianum (Blume) Blume
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| Synonyms | |
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List
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Description edit
Tree: 25–30 m high when fully grown, often with buttresses at the trunk base.
Leaves: Inflorescences up to 250 mm long if solitary, much shorter if tufted.
Flowers: tetramerous. Sepals free or slightly connate, the outer two usually slightly smaller than the inner ones, ovate to obovate, 1-3 by 1-2.4 mm, outside and inside glabrous or hairy (nearly always inside at the base). Petals: obovate to broadly spathulate, 1-2.8 by 0.5-1.7 mm, short- to long-clawed with an ovate to transversely elliptic blade, variably woolly, nearly always with the exception of the base outside, inside often sparsely hairy to glabrous. Stamens: 8 (sometimes 9).
Fruit: lobes ellipsoid to almost spherical: 17-50 by 12–50 mm, with a (very variable) rough, red or dark-brown surface.
There is considerable (but continuous) variation in this species: of leaves, flowers, and especially the fruits.[4]
Distribution and vernacular names edit
- Bangladesh
- Burma (Myanmar): taung-kyetmauk.
- India (Assam)
- Indonesia: rambutan pacet (Malay), burundul, corogol monyet tjorogol monjet (Sundanese)
- Laos: kho lên, ngèo
- Malaysia: geresek hitam, gigi buntal, rambutan pachet (Peninsular), balong ayam, kata keran
- Philippines
- Thailand: kho laen (eastern), kho hia (south-eastern), laen ban (peninsular).
- Viet Nam: Cây Trường
References edit
- ^ Leenhouts PW (1983). A taxonomic revision of Xerospermum (Sapindaceae). Blumea 28: 389-401.
- ^ World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World
- ^ "Xerospermum — the Plant List".
- ^ "Xerospermum noronhianum | Flora Malesiana".