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
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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....

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