Author : Linnaeus
Morphological description
Shrubs or trees .
Leaves spirally arranged, paripinnate, 1-7-jugate, petioled (Saraca declinata overv 139546 ). Stipules axillary, enveloping the bud, usually caducous. Leaflets opposite, sometimes with a pair of wart-like glands at the base and/or at the apex; nerves more or less straight or slightly curved and obliquely upward towards the margin, usually elevated and distinct beneath, less so above; veins reticulate, often visible or distinct beneath, rather obscure above; petiolules very short.
Inflorescences terminal or axillary, or on older branches, often rather dense, corymbose or paniculate, usually many-flowered; bracts caducous or persistent; bracteoles (sub)opposite, often coloured and showy; pedicels very short.
Flowers bisexual, or functionally male (with short, small, sterile or rudimentary pistil), distinctly (or sometimes not) articulated at the base. Hypanthium cylindrical or tubular. Calyx 4(-6)-lobed, subequal, petaloid. Petals absent. Disk absent. Stamens (3 or)4-8(-10) fertile, in one whorl; filaments free or united at the base into a thin rim or ring-like, more or less equal in length, exserted; anthers ellipsoid, oblong, or broadly ovoid, dorsifixed, introrse, often shortly hairy at apex and/or base, rarely also on the back, or glabrous; staminodes dentate or rarely subulate when present. Pistil stipitate, excentric with stipe adnate to the hypanthium; ovary oblong or lanceolate, 2 (in Saraca hullettii ), or (4-)6-8(-12)-ovuled; style filiform; stigma terminal, minute, obtuse.
Pods suborbicular, broadly ovoid, ellipsoid, or obovoid, flattened, straight or distinctly curved, coriaceous or woody, dehiscent, 2-valved, valves twisting and enrolling during dehiscence, 1-8-seeded (Saraca cauliflora pod 139576 ).
Seeds ovoid, ellipsoid, or subglobose, smooth, compressed or subterete, exarillate, exalbuminous.
Distribution
A genus of about 11, closely allied species distributed in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, China; Malesia with 7 indigenous and 1 introduced species: Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Java, Celebes, Lesser Sunda Islands, Moluccas. Introduced to the Philippines and Papua New Guinea.
Habitat
In lowland forests especially growing along streams. In the Malay Peninsula the rivers are bordered with Saraca -trees forming, tunnel-like through the forest, a characteristic vegetation, called Saraca -streams by Corner (1940: 42, 400).
Uses
Trees of some species are cultivated in gardens for ornamental purpose. The trees are rather small, so the wood is only used for small utensils.
Notes
1. The anthers are often (sparsely) hairy at one or both ends, which can be seen as a distinct character for the genus.
2. The number of ovules in the ovary has often been recorded as numerous (e. g. Hutchinson (1964) 256) or as many (e. g. Zuijderhoudt 1968: 414). However, it is only 2 in Saraca hullettii and (4-)6-8(-12) in other species.
DOUBTFUL SPECIES
Jonesia scandens Roxb., Fl. Ind., ed. Carey, 2 (1832) 220; Prain, J. As. Soc. Beng. 66, ii (1897) 217, in note; Zuijderh., Blumea 15 (1968) 425. - Type: Anonymous s. n. (extant ?, n. v.), cultivated in the Calcutta Bot. Gard., origin from Sumatra.
The plant was described as "Shrubby scandent, or twining. Leaflets two or three pairs". The description is too vague to identify the plant.