Giant devil's fig (Solanum chrysotrichum)

Giant devil's fig (Solanum chrysotrichum) is a species of plant in the Solanaceae, a shrub or small tree, up to 7.5 meters high, woody stems with rows of large, downward-curving spines, branching, green or white bark with dense brownish hairs.

S. chrysotrichum has leaves with large stalks and up to 27 cm long. The leaves are oval, up to 65 cm long, up to 65 cm wide, with a rough surface and green color. A large vein in the center with several long, erect spines. Some of the smaller veins are pinnate with several long, erect spines.

Star-shaped flowers, up to 4 cm wide, white and yellow in the center. The fruit is green when young, orange when ripe and brown when dry, up to 2 cm wide, round, hard, slimy and glabrous. Seeds shiny, yellow to light brown, 2-3x1.5-2.5 mm.

This tree grows wild in forests, riverbanks, steep slopes, roadsides and agricultural land at elevations of 1000-2000 meters with a tropical climate.

TAXON

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Solanales
Family: Solanaceae
Subfamily: Solanoideae
Tribe: Solaneae
Genus: Solanum L. in Sp. Pl.: 184 (1753)
Subgenus: Leptostemonum
Species: Solanum chrysotrichum Schltdl. in Linnaea 19: 304 (1846)

HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS

Solanum pynaertii De Wild. in Miss. Ém. Laurent 1: 437 (1907)
Solanum scorpioideum Rusby in Descr. S. Amer. Pl.: 113 (1920)
Solanum torvum var. pleiotomum C.Y.Wu & S.C.Huang in Acta Phytotax. Sin. 16(2): 73 (1978)
Solanum truncatum Standl. & C.V.Morton in Publ. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Bot. Ser. 18: 1095 (1938)
Solanum warszewiczii Lambertye in Rev. Hort. (Paris) 14: 429 (1865)
Solanum warzcewiczoides C.Huber in Nursery Cat. (Huber) 1970(Cat. Graines): 3 (1870)

PUBLICATIONS

Aubriot, X. & Knapp, S. (2022). A revision of the "spiny solanums" of Tropical Asia (Solanum, the Leptostemonum Clade, Solanaceae). PhytoKeys 198: 1-270.

Bikandu, B., Lukoki, F. & Habari, J.P. (2020). Flore d'Afrique Centrale (Zaire-rwanda-Burundi) Solanaceae: 1-162. Jardin Botanique National de Belgique.

Gosline, G., Bidault, E., van der Burgt, X., Cahen, D., Challen, G., Condé, N., Couch, C., Couvreur, T.L.P., Dagallier, L.M.J., Darbyshire, I., Dawson, S., Doré, T.S., Goyder, D., Grall, A., Haba, P., Haba, P., Harris, D., Hind, D.J.N., Jongkind, & al. (2023). A Taxonomically-verified and Vouchered Checklist of the Vascular Plants of the Republic of Guinea. Nature, scientific data 10, Article number: 327: [1]-[12

VERNACULAR NAME

English: Giant Devil's Fig, Devil's Solanum, Takokak setan
East Java: Jarak alas, Jarak setan
Java: Jarak setan, takokak setan
Indonesian: Takokak setan, Ceri setan, Ranti setan
Sunda: Takokak sétan

Aryo Bandoro
Dlium TheDlium
Web: https://www.dlium.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dlium

Screw tree (Helicteres isora)

Screw tree ( Helicteres isora ) is a species of plant in the Malvaceae family. It is a shrub or small tree, up to 8 meters tall. It has gray bark and alternate leaves, up to 22 cm long and 17 cm wide, oval in shape, with serrated edges and hairs. The flowers are red or white and reach a total length of 5.5 cm. The fruit is green when unripe, brown or gray when dry, twisted, spiral-shaped, and pointed at the tip. The seeds are black or brown, shiny, and diagonal, triangular, or rectangular. TAXON Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Malvales Family: Malvaceae Subfamily: Helicteroideae Tribe: Helictereae Genus: Helicteres Pluk. ex L. in Sp. Pl.: 963 (1753) Species: Helicteres isora L. in Sp. Pl.: 963 (1753) HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS Helicteres baruensis var. ovata DC. in Prodr. 1: 476 (1824) Helicteres chrysocalyx Miq. ex Mast. in J.D.Hooker, Fl. Brit. India 1: 365 (1874) Helicteres corylifolia Buch.-Ham. ex Dillwyn in Rev. Hortus Malab....

Sausage tree (Kigelia africana)

Sausage Tree ( Kigelia africana ) is a species of tree in the Bignoniaceae family, growing up to 24 meters tall with low, spreading branches. The bark is dark gray to light brown, up to 6 mm thick, scaly, creamy white underside, and the branches are marked with lenticels. The wood is light brown or yellowish. This tree grows at elevations of 0-3000 meters. The leaves are arranged alternately along the stem and are divided into several pairs of minor leaflets and a single minor leaflet at the tip. Each leaflet is up to 50 cm long and has 3-6 pairs of opposite minor leaflets. The minor leaflets are oval to narrow and pointed, 7-20 cm long and 4-12 cm wide. The margins are smooth, sometimes slightly serrated. The upper side is glossy green, the underside pale green, smooth or finely hairy. The central vein is sunken on the upper side, with 7-12 pairs of prominent lateral veins visible below. The inflorescences hang from flexible branches up to 7.5 meters long. The flowers are bell-shap...

Breng (Coldenia breng)

Breng ( Coldenia breng ) is a species of plant in the Boraginaceae family. It is a herbaceous plant that grows along the ground, with radial, cylindrical stems, red, multi-branched, alternate, and white-haired. C. breng has alternate leaves along the stem, oval to nearly round, up to 2.5 cm long, up to 1.5 cm wide, and white-haired. This plant grows in floodplains, seasonally inundated riverbanks, and drying rice fields. It thrives in sandy or silty soils and is drought-tolerant. TAXON Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Boraginales Family: Boraginaceae Subfamily: Cordioideae Genus: Coldenia L. in Sp. Pl.: 125 (1753) Species: Coldenia breng Aryo Bandoro Dlium TheDlium YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dlium

Dlium