Helicia cochinchinensis

Loureiro

Proteaceae Edible: Seeds, Nuts 877 iNaturalist observations

iNaturalist· cc-by

iNaturalist· cc-by-nc

Description

A shrub or tree. It grows 4-20 m high. The branches and leaves are smooth. The leaf stalk is 0.5-1.5 cm long. The leaf blade is oval and 5-12 cm long by 2.5-5 cm wide. It is papery or slightly leathery. The base is wedge shaped. There are a few teeth near the tip in young leaves. Leaves taper to a short tip. There are 6-7 pairs of veins. The flower racemes are in the axils of leaves. They are 8-14 cm long. The flowers are whitish or yellow. The fruit is narrowly oval and 1-1.5 cm long by 0.8-1 cm wide. It is bluish black.

Edible Uses

Seed. The fruit is a bluish-blach, subglobose-ovoid drupe, 15mm long and 12mm wide, containing a single seed.

Traditional Uses

The fruit are eaten raw.

This uses section is brief — help expand it

Distribution

A tropical and subtropical plant. It grows in evergreen and mixed forests on plains or mountain slopes between 100-500 m altitude in S China. It can grow up to 1700 m altitude. In Yunnan.

Where It Grows

Asia, Cambodia, China, Indochina, Japan, SE Asia, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam,

Other Uses

The wood is used for fuel.

Notes

There are about 90 Helicia species mostly in SE Asia with some in N Australia.

Synonyms

Helicia annularis W. W. SmithHelicia tonkinensis Lecomte

Also Known As

Xiao guo shan long yan, Xiachuxialo

References (9)

Burkill, I.H., 1966, A Dictionary of the Economic Products of the Malay Peninsula. Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vol 1 (A-H) p 1151
Crevost & Lemarie, 1917, p 261
Fl. cochinch. 1:83. 1790
Flora of China @ efloras.org Volume 5
Jin, Chen et al, 1999, Ethnobotanical studies on Wild Edible Fruits in Southern Yunnan: Folk Names: Nutritional Value and Uses. Economic Botany 53(1) pp 2-14

Show all 9 references