Aglaia leptantha is a species of tree in the family Meliaceae. It is found in Mainland and Island Southeast Asia. People use the plant for food, incense, and for human and bovine medicine. Gibbons also eat parts of the tree.
Description
A tree growing some 20-35m tall.[3] The wood is red. Distinguishing traits include that the secondary veins on the leaves are usually less than ten, though rarely more, and that the leaflets dry to a blackish to blackish-green colour.[4]
In Thailand the tree flowers from August to October, with fruiting occurring from October to April.
santal rouge de Cochinchinense (="red sandalwood of Cochinchina", French)
Uses
In Thailand the aril is eaten.[4]
In Cambodia the young leaves are eaten in salads, like those of the genuine sdau (Azadirachta indica).[3] The red wood is fragrant and used as incense, like sandalwood (Santalum spp.) A decoction of the bark is used in local medicine to treat fever in people and to increase the appetite of oxen and buffalo.
History
The species was first described in 1868 by the Nederlander botanist Friedrich Anton Wilhelm Miquel (1811–71).[7]
After an early career as a medical doctor and academic, he became a leading expert on the botany of the then Nederlands West Indies, now Indonesia. He published his description in Annales Musei Botanici Lugduno-Batavi (Amsterdam).
Further reading
Dy Phon, Pauline, 2000, Dictionnaire des plantes utilisées au Cambodge, chez l'auteur, Phnom Penh, Cambodia *Govaerts, 1995, World Checklist of Seed Plants 1(1, 2)
Lê, T.C. (2003). Danh lục các loài thục vật Việt Nam [Checklist of Plant Species of Vietnam] 3: 1–1248. Hà Noi : Nhà xu?t b?n Nông nghi?p
Newman et al., 2007, A checklist of the vascular plants of Lao PDR
Turner, 1995, 'A catalogue of the Vascular Plants of Malaya', Gardens' Bulletin Singapore 47(1):1-346
Wongprasert et al., 2011, 'A synoptic account of the Meliaceae of Thailand', Thai Forest Bulletin (Botany) 39:210-266