Barringtonia asiatica
Barringtonia asiatica
Barringtonia asiatica is a plant from the family pot fruit tree crops ( Lecythidaceae ). It thrives on the sea shores of the Indian Ocean and western Pacific. From the fruits, which are often washed ashore as flotsam on the beaches, a poison for fishing can be produced.
- 5.1 Notes and references
Description
Vegetative characteristics
Barringtonia asiatica grows as a evergreen tree, reaching heights of growth of about 5 to 20 meters. The bark is fissured. The tree crown is rounded and the thick branches ramify not often.
The alternate, sessile, leathery, shiny, undivided, ganzrandigen leaves have a length of 20 to 40 centimeters and a width of 10 to 20 centimeters. They are spirally arranged on the branches and sit quirlartig heaped at the ends of branches. The young leaves are reddish tinged with red veins. Older leaves turn yellowish or get red spots between leaf veins. There are tiny stipules present.
Generative features
The most terminal, erect, racemose inflorescences are 5-15 inches long and contain five to ten, rarely up to twenty flowers. The egg-shaped bracts 8 to 20 millimeters, the triangular bracts 1.5 to 5 millimeters and the pedicels 5-9 cm long.
The spherical with a diameter of 2-4 cm flower bud is enclosed by the fused sepals, which break up into two or three irregular parts, unfolds the flower. The scented flowers are hermaphrodite and cruciform with a double perianth. The sepals remain long, they can still be seen in the ripe fruit, the sepals are 3-4 × 2-3 cm tall and the Goblet of tube is 3 to 5 millimeters long. The four with a length of 5 to 7 centimeters ovate to elliptic petals are white. Flashy but are the numerous, up to 10 centimeters long stamens. The white also, towards the tip pink stamens are fused from its base up to a length of 1.5 to 6 millimeters in six groups; the outer filaments have a length of 7-9 cm. The anthers are yellow. Four carpels are fused to a vierkammerigen, 5-9 mm long ovary. The ovary chamber are four or five ovules available. The also white, pink towards the tip stylus is longer than the stamens with 11 to 13 cm and protruded from them. The flowers open only for one night and are pollinated by moths and bats.
The one-seeded, smooth, 9-11 cm long fruits are shaped like a pyramid on a square plan, with the sepals at the apex of the pyramid sit. They stain in the ripening from green to brown. The pericarp is spongy and fibrous, so that the fruits float in the water. You will be viable, so that this species has a wide distribution on the coasts of East Africa to the Pacific, even after several months stay in salt water. The seedling will appear at the " top of the pyramid "; the hard pericarp is still maintained for a while at the base of the trunk. The elongated seed is 4-5 cm long.
Barringtonia asiatica blooms and bears fruit almost all year round. The chromosome number is 2n = 26
Dissemination
Due to the floating fruits Barringtonia asiatica is widely used, from the tropical East Africa and Madagascar through India, Southeast Asia to the Philippines, south until after Queensland. By planting the tree is now also found in the Caribbean.
Barringtonia asiatica settled this close to the beach habitats, but a bit further inland than the mangroves. Associated with this type eg Calophyllum inophyllum and Lindenblättrigem marshmallow.
Use
The fruits contain saponins, which have a toxic effect mainly on fish. They were traditionally used for fishing. Various plant parts are also part of traditional medicines. Today the most common use is probably the. Than undemanding avenue tree in the tropics
Botanical history and naming
The specific epithet asiatica, so " Asian " does not appear to make sense when you consider that the other about 50 species of the genus Barringtonia are common in Asia. Carl Linnaeus published in 1753, however, as this type Mammea asiatica, and bordered them with this name from the only other known at the time Mammea - way Mammea americana, from.
In the " expedition to Tahiti and the South Pacific 1772-1775 " by Georg Forster we find the following entry:
" Now we hiked with our companion on One Tree Hill, and came away in one of the front valleys of O- Parr. Here us the Luck was, and we made a botanical discovery. Namely We found a tree which the most splendid appearance had of the world. He was emblazoned with a lot of beautiful flowers, which as white as lilies, but were larger and provided with a lot of dust filaments that had a crimson color at the tips. There were already so many fallen, that the whole floor fully lay it. these beautiful tree we called Barringtonia, in the national language but he called Huddu, and the inhabitants assured us that the nutty fruit when they crushed and mixed with the meat of mussels thrown into the sea, the fish at some time stunned, so that they come to the surface and can be captured with the hands., we were too excited about our botanical finds, than that we had on the ship with a closer investigation until the return can wait. "
1875 was kind of this kind of Wilhelm Sulpiz short classified in the genus Barringtonia. Other synonyms are: Agasta indica Miers, Barringtonia speciosa JRForster & G.Forster ..
Swell
- Haining Qin & Sir Ghillean ( Iain ) T. Prance: Lecythidaceae in the Flora of China. Barringtonia asiatica - Online. ( Description section )