Tentrem (Pollia thyrsiflora)

Tentrem (Pollia thyrsiflora) is a species of plant in the Commelinaceae, herbaceous, erect and straight, strong, about 50-70 cm tall, cylindrical stem, green, segmented, growing roots on the lower internodes and possibly growing shoots on the upper internodes.

P. thyrsiflora has leaves that sit circular, oval-shaped, thick and fleshy, dark green, narrow base, pointed tip, wavy surface, wavy margin, a large vein in the middle forming a trench and light color.

The inflorescences are in the middle at the tip of the upper stem and are green. The berries are round in a dense arrangement forming an elongated round, bluish black in color, shiny and ripe at the same time.

This species grows on the tropical forest floor, under a dense and shady tree canopy, forming colonies and competing with other shrubs.

TAXON

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Commelinales
Family: Commelinaceae
Subfamily: Commelinoideae
Tribe: Commelineae
Genus: Pollia Thunb. in Nov. Gen. Pl. 1: 11 (1781)
Species: Pollia thyrsiflora (Blume) Steud. in Nomencl. Bot., ed. 2, 2: 368 (1841)

HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS

Lamprocarpus thyrsiflorus (Blume) Blume in J.J.Roemer & J.A.Schultes, Syst. Veg., ed. 15[bis]. 7: 1726 (1830)
Tradescantia thyrsiflora Blume in Enum. Pl. Javae 1: 6 (1827)

HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS

Pollia glaucescens Teijsm. & Binn. in Natuurk. Tijdschr. Ned.-Indië 24: 305 (1862)
Pollia philippinensis Elmer in Leafl. Philipp. Bot. 1: 275 (1908)

PUBLICATIONS

Aung, Y.L., Aung, M.H., Tan, Y. & Jin, X. (2025). An updated checklist of vascular plants of Myanmar. PhytoKeys 261: 135-364.

Girmansyah, D. & al. (eds.) (2013). Flora of Bali an annotated checklist: 1-158. Herbarium Bogorensis, Indonesia.

Govaerts, R. (2004). World Checklist of Monocotyledons Database in ACCESS: 1-54382. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Pandey, R.P. & Dilwakar, P.G. (2008). An integrated check-list flora of Andaman and Nicobar islands, India. Journal of Economic and Taxonomic Botany 32: 403-500.

Sarder, N.U. & Hassan, M.A. (eds.) (2018). Vascular flora of Chittagong and the Chittagong Hill Tracts 1: 1-897. Bangladesh National Herbarium, Dhaka.

Sharief, M.U. (ed.) (2024). Flora of India 28: 1-764. Botanical Survey of India.

VERNACULAR NAME

English: Tentrem
Indonesia: Tentrem
Java: Tentrem

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

Sea almond (Terminalia catappa)

Ketapang or tropical almond or beach almond or talisay tree or umbrella tree or sea almond ( Terminalia catappa ) is a species of plant in the Combretaceae, a shady tree, fast growing, forming a multilevel canopy, often used as a shade tree in gardens and on roadsides. T. catappa grows large, up to 40 meters in height and up to 1.5 meters in trunk, shady canopy with branches that grow flat and terraced, young trees often look like pagodas while old and large trees often have aerial roots up to 3 meters. The leaves are scattered, mostly at the end of the twig, rounded egg upside down, 8-38 cm long, 5-19 cm wide, the tip is wide, the base is narrow, the upper surface is smooth, green but turns red if to fall out and short stalks. The flowers are small, collected near the tips of the twigs, 8-25 cm long and green-yellow in color. The flowers are not crowned, the petals have five taju, are plate or bell shaped, 4-8 mm long and are white or cream in color. Stamens in two circles and arra...

Asian foxtail (Uraria crinita)

Asian foxtail or cat's tail bean ( Uraria crinita ) is a species of plant in Fabaceae, a perennial, upright shrub with woody stems at least at the base, up to 2 meters high in forests, agricultural land, waterways, used as a medicinal herb, green manure and sometimes planted in the garden as an ornamental plant. U. crinita has elongated leaves, rounded base, pointed tip, a bone in the middle with several pinnate veins, rough surface, dark green with white spots. Petiole short or less than 0.5 cm and brownish red. Compound flower in spike shape, purple and white triangular crown. Long flower stalk, erect, 15-20 cm long and only at the end of the flower. The crown slowly falls off and leaves behind a stalk that is shaped like coir or light yellow pads. Asian foxtail grows in dry grasslands, open forests, trash cans, roadsides, sandy areas and sometimes in deciduous forests, elevations of 0-1500 meters and does not grow in waterlogged places. The different parts are often used in t...

Kunu buti (Mesosphaerum suaveolens)

Kunu buti ( Mesosphaerum suaveolens ) is a species of plant in the Lamiaceae family. It is an erect, herbaceous annual, growing up to 1.5 meters tall. Its cylindrical, rough, brown or green stem is hairy and white. It grows on forest floors, bushes, agricultural fields, and roadsides. Its roots are fibrous and brownish-yellow. M. suaveolens has single, opposite leaves, stalks 2-5 cm long and hairy. The leaf blades are green, hairy, oval, with pointed tips, blunt bases, serrated edges, up to 6 cm long, up to 5 cm wide, and pinnate veins. The flowers are compound, axillary, in clusters, perfect, and bisexual. The petals are attached, forming a tube, each tip elongated like a spine, soft, 3-10 mm long, and green. The corolla is attached, asymmetrically detached, 1-2 cm long, and purple. The fruit is single, hard, capsule-shaped, hairy on the surface, and green or brown in color. The seeds are round, small and blackish brown in color. TAXON Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphyl...

Dlium