Skip to main content

Pong pong (Cerbera odollam)

Bintaro or pong pong (Cerbera odollam) is a plant species in Apocynaceae, a medium-sized tree with circular branches around the trunk, non-woody, gummy white, highly poisonous and the leaves are used for bioinsecticide, seeds are used as biodiesel material and often used for ornamental plants.

C. odollam is less than 17 meters tall, grows upright, has low and sideways branches to form an umbrella canopy, the bark is thin and dark brown, lots of white sap, the whole stem has traces of circular petioles.

Dlium Pong Pong (Cerbera odollam)


Leaves have large stalks with thick strands, inverted or elongated ovoid, 4.5-7 cm wide, 15-30 cm long, blunt base, sharp tip, a large bone in the middle with sideways veins, dark green and shiny upper surface, the lower surface is lighter.

The white flower is located at the end of the stem and long stalk. Trumpet-shaped crown with five tongues, tube 1.5-2 cm long, white with yellow tunnels and a few yellow hairs.

The fruit is round, green in color with a green fibrous shell enclosing an ovoid core measuring approximately 2x1.5 cm and consisting of two matching white fleshy halves. The white kernels turn purple when exposed to sunlight, then dark gray and finally brown or black.

The kernels contain cerberin, digoxin-type cardenolide and cardiac glycoside toxins that block calcium ion channels in the heart muscle, causing heart rate disorders. The dose of the fatal poison contained in the seeds causes death in humans within 1-2 days.









The stems, leaves and fruit are used for making bioinsecticides and deodorants. Seeds are used as raw material in biodiesel production. The pong pong tree is often used for ornamental plants and shade trees in agricultural land and roadsides.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Gentianales
Family: Apocynaceae
Subfamily: Rauvolfioideae
Tribe: Plumerieae
Subtribe: Thevetiinae
Genus: Cerbera
Species: Cerbera odollam

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular

Indian rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia)

Sonokeling or Java palisandre or Indian rosewood ( Dalbergia latifolia ) is a species of plant in the Fabaceae, a large tree producing hardwood, medium weight and high quality, rounded leaves, thin and broad pods, highly adaptive, grows in dry and rocky landscapes with lots of sunlight. D. latifolia has medium to large size, cylindrical stems, up to 40 m high with a ring of up to 2 m, the bark is brownish gray and slightly cracked longitudinally. The crown is dense, dome-shaped and sheds leaves. The leaves are compound and pinnate oddly with 5-7 strands that have different sizes and appear alternately on the shaft. The leaves are round or elongated in width or heart, the upper surface is green and the surface is pale green. The flowers are small, 0.5-1 cm long and clustered in panicles. The pods are green to brown when ripe and are elongated lanceolate, pointed at the base and tip. The pods have 1-4 seeds which are soft and brownish. Indian rosewood grows at elevations below 600 m,

Cogon grass (Imperata cylindrica)

Alang-alang or cogon grass ( Imperata cylindrica ) is a plant species in Poaceae, annual grass, sharp leaf, long buds and scaly, creeping under the ground, very adaptive and grows in all climates which often become weeds on agricultural land. I. cylindrica has a sharp pointed tip of the bud and emerges from the ground, height of 0.2-1.5 m but in other places it may be more, short stems, rising up to the ground and flowering white or purplish, often with wreath of hair under the segment. Leaf strands in the form of long ribbons, lancet-tipped with a narrow base and gutter-shaped, 12-80 cm long, very coarse edge and jagged sharply, long hair at the base with broad, pale leaf bones in the middle. The flowers are panicles, 6-28 cm long with long-haired and white-colored ears for 1 cm which are used as a tool to blow off the fruit when ripe. Cogon grass breeds quickly with seeds that spread quickly with the wind or through rhizomes that quickly penetrate the soil. Alang-alang does

Redflower ragleaf (Crassocephalum crepidioides)

Sintrong or ebolo or thickhead or redflower ragleaf ( Crassocephalum crepidioides ) are plant species in Asteraceae, terma height 25-100 cm, white fibrous roots, generally grow wild on the roadside, yard gardens or abandoned lands at altitude 200- 2500 m. C. crepidioides has erect or horizontal stems along the soil surface, vascular, soft, non-woody, shallow grooves, green, rough surface and short white hair, aromatic fragrance when squeezed. Petiole is spread on stems, tubular and eared. Single leaf, spread out, green, 8-20 cm long, 3-6 cm wide, longitudinal or round inverted eggshell with a narrow base along the stalk. Pointed tip, flat-edged or curved to pinnate, jagged rough and pointed. The top leaves are smaller and often sit. Compound flowers grow throughout the year in humps that are arranged in terminal flat panicles and androgynous. Green cuffs with orange-brown to brick-red tips, cylindrical for 13-16 mm long and 5-6 mm wide. The crown is yellow with a brownish red