Cnestis palala

(Lour.) Merr.

Palala vines

ConnaraceaeFruitLeaves

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(c) loupok, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND)

iNaturalist · cc-by-nc
(c) Stan van Remmerden, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

What to Eat

Edible parts: Fruit, Leaves

Seeds. Fruit - possibly eaten. The pear-shaped fruit is sinuously curved, slender, around 35 - 70mm long and 15 - 25mm wide.

Where to Find It

It is a tropical plant. In Hainan in China it grows between 200-300 m above sea level.

Andamans, Asia, China, India, Indochina, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, SE Asia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam,

Countries: United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Brunei, Bhutan, China, Georgia, Indonesia, Israel, India, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Cambodia, North Korea, South Korea, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Laos, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Mongolia, Maldives, Malaysia, Nepal, Oman, Philippines, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Syria, Thailand, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Taiwan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen

How to Identify

A large shrub. It lies over and can be a creeper. It can be 2-10 m tall. The younger parts are hairy. The leaves have leaflets along the stalk. The leaflets are in pairs but with odd ones among them. The leaflets are 3-8 cm long. The flowers are small and yellow. They have a scent. The fruit is a dry pod with a velvety covering on the outside and bright red inside.

How to Grow

Plants can be grown from seeds or cuttings.

Medicinal Uses

The paste of the young leaf is warmed and applied to the body to treat fever during flu.

Notes

There are 13 Cnestis species. 12 are in Africa.

Names & Synonyms

Andor balimbing, Pinan keroh, Semilat padang, Taw-kyet-louk, Truongkhe

Cnestis annamensis Gagnep.Cnestis diffusa BlancoCnestis flaminea Griff.Cnestis flammea KurzCnestis foliosa Planch. ex KurzCnestis ignea Planch. ex KurzCnestis palala subsp. diffusa (Blanco) AndreasCnestis platantha Griff.Cnestis ramiflora Griff.Connarus foliosus Jack [invalid]Thysanus palala Lour.

References (4)

Kurz, S., 1877, The Forest Flora of British Burma. Vol. 1 p 354 (As Cnestis platantha)
Leenhouts, P.W., 1958, Connaraceae in Flora Malesiana 5(4) p 498
Sukarya, D. G., (Ed.) 2013, 3,500 Plant Species of the Botanic Gardens of Indonesia. LIPI p 912
www.efloras.org Flora of China Volume 9