齿叶乌桕 chi ye wu jiu

Sapium indicum Willdenow, Sp. Pl. 4: 572. 1805; Excoecaria indica (Willdenow) Müller Argoviensis; S. bingyricum Roxburgh ex Baillon; Shirakia indica (Willdenow) Hurusawa; Stillingia diversifolia Miquel.

Trees up to 30 m tall, to 40 cm d.b.h., bole twisting, with spines at base. Stipules 1-2 mm; petiole 1-1.5 cm, sparsely pilose to glabrous, eglandular at apex; leaf blade oblong to elliptic or slightly ovate, 7-14 × 3-4 cm, leathery, abaxially with 2-4 glands per side, base obtuse, margins conspicuously serrate, apex subacuminate to acuminate; lateral veins 18-24 pairs, at 60°-66° to midrib. Inflorescence solitary, racemelike, to 10 cm, axis pilose. Male flowers: bracts broad, ciliate, bases with 2 glands; pedicels 1-2 mm; calyx 0.6-0.8 mm, ciliate; stamen filaments 0.5-0.6 mm at anthesis, nearly absent in bud; anthers 0.4-0.5 mm. Female flowers: pedicel ca. 5 mm; calyx 1.25-1.75 mm, pilose; ovary ovate, ca. 2.5 mm; styles ca. 1.5 mm; stigmas 4-6 mm. Fruiting pedicel 8-22 mm; capsules subglobose, 18-30 × 20-32 mm, rounded at both ends or slightly attenuate at base, obscurely 3-lobed, walls of cocci very thick and hard. Seeds often less than 3 per fruit, ellipsoid, 11-13 × 7-8.5 mm, keeled on back, medium to pale brown, not spotted, without caruncle. Fl. Jun-Jul.

Along rivers and seashores, gallery, tidal, and mangrove forests, primary and old secondary forests of swampy and seasonally inundated areas; below 100 m. Guangdong [native to Bangladesh, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; Pacific islands (Bismarck Archipelago, Caroline Islands, Solomon Islands)].

Shirakiopsis indica is cultivated for timber and used medicinally. A drying oil is obtained from the seeds, which are edible, though the outer layers of the fruit and other parts of the plant are poisonous and have been used as fish poisons. It is of particular interest because of its ability to grow in waterlogged soils.