Skip to main content

Fukien tea tree (Ehretia microphylla)

Dlium Fukien tea tree (Ehretia microphylla)

Serut pagar or hokiantie or Philippine tea tree or Fukien tea tree (Ehretia microphylla) is a plant species in the Boraginaceae, a shrub that grows up to 4 meters high, woody stems with long, drooping and slender branches.

E. microphylla usually has leaves 10-50 mm long, 5-30 mm wide and can vary in size, texture, color and margins. The small flowers are white, 8-10 mm in diameter and the corolla has 4-5 lobes. The fruit contains seeds, 4-6 mm in diameter and ripens orange-brown.



Seeds are dispersed by fruit-eating birds. It grows in clumps and semi-evergreen vines, prefers dry sites and occasionally occurs in rainforests. The leaves are used to treat coughs, colic, diarrhea and dysentery.

TAXON

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Boraginales
Family: Boraginaceae
Subfamily: Ehretioideae
Genus: Ehretia P.Browne in Civ. Nat. Hist. Jamaica: 168 (1756)
Species: Ehretia microphylla Lam. in Tabl. Encycl. 1: 425 (1792)

HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS

Carmona microphylla (Lam.) G.Don in Gen. Hist. 4: 391 (1837)
Ehretia buxifolia var. microphylla (Lam.) DC. in Prodr. 9: 509 (1845), nom. superfl.

HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS

Carmona heterophylla Cav. in Icon. 5: 22 (1799)
Carmona retusa (Vahl) Masam. in Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. Formosa 30: 61 (1940)
Cordia coromandeliana Retz. ex A.DC. in A.P.de Candolle, Prodr. 9: 509 (1845)
Cordia retusa Vahl in Symb. Bot. 2: 42 (1791)
Ehretia buxifolia Roxb. in Pl. Coromandel 1: 42 (1796)
Ehretia buxifolia var. heterophylla (Cav.) Gagnep. in H.Lecomte (ed.), Fl. Indo-Chine 4(2): 207 (1914)
Ehretia coromandeliana Retz. ex DC. in Prodr. 9: 509 (1845)
Ehretia dentata Courchet ex Gagnep. in Notul. Syst. (Paris) 3: 35 (1914)
Ehretia heterophylla Spreng. in Syst. Veg., ed. 16. 1: 648 (1824)
Ehretia monopyrena Gottschling & Hilger in Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 123: 263 (2001)
Lithothamnus buxioides Zipp. ex Span. in Linnaea 15: 334 (1841)

PUBLICATIONS

Govaerts, R. (2001). World Checklist of Seed Plants Database in ACCESS Genera starting with letter E-F: 1-50919.

Whistler, W.A. (2022). Flora of Samoa Flowering Plants: 1-930. National Tropical Botanicl Garden. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

VERNACULAR NAME

Chinese (simplified): 基及树 - 小叶厚壳树
Chinese (traditional): 滿福木 - 福建茶 - 福建茶 - 基及樹 - 小葉厚殼樹
English: Fukien tea tree, Philippine tea tree
Indonesian: Serut pagar, Hokianti, Hokiantie, Teh fukian, Teh pagar
Thai: ชาฮกเกี้ยน

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

Popular Posts

Srigati morning glory (Ipomoea trifida)

Srigati morning glory or threefork morning glory ( Ipomoea trifida ) is a species of plant in the Convolvulaceae family. It is a herbaceous, climbing, twining, cylindrical plant with green stems when young and brown when mature, and white hairs. The leaves are heart-shaped, plain or three-lobed, up to 9 cm long and 9 cm wide. The flowers are trumpet-shaped, reddish-white or purplish, with red or purple inner lobes, up to 4 cm long and 3.5 cm wide. This species grows as a ground cover and climbs into the forest canopy. It grows in forests, agricultural lands, roadsides, and abandoned areas. TAXON Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Solanales Family: Convolvulaceae Subfamily: Convolvuloideae Tribe: Ipomoeeae Genus: Ipomoea L. in Sp. Pl.: 159 (1753) Species: Ipomoea trifida (Kunth) G.Don in Gen. Hist. 4: 280 (1837) HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS Convolvulus trifidus Kunth in F.W.H.von Humboldt, A.J.A.Bonpland & C.S.Kunth, Nov. Gen. Sp. 3: 1...

Redflower ragleaf (Crassocephalum crepidioides)

Sintrong or ebolo or thickhead or redflower ragleaf ( Crassocephalum crepidioides ) is 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 fruit is hard, slender elongated, has 10 r...

Java milkwort (Polygala javana)

Java milkwort ( Polygala javana ) is a species of plant in the Polygalaceae family. It has erect, woody, branched stems with brown to black stems and white hairs or powdery hairs. The leaves are opposite and alternate. The leaves are oval, up to 30 mm long and up to 9 mm wide, and green. The inflorescences are arranged in panicles, arranged in rows and radially. The flowers are butterfly-shaped, yellow, green, and purple, with white hairs, up to 8 mm wide. TAXON Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Fabales Family: Polygalaceae Tribe: Polygaleae Genus: Polygala Tourn. ex L. in Sp. Pl.: 701 (1753) Species: Polygala javana DC. in Prodr. 1: 327 (1824) HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS Polygala ceylanica B.Heyne ex Wall. in Numer. List: n.° 4183 (1831) Polygala javana var. angustifolia Thwaites in Enum. Pl. Zeyl.: 22 (1864) Polygala raoi R.N.Banerjee & L.K.Banerjee in Proc. Indian Acad. Sci., B 82: 218 (1975) PUBLICATIONS Aung, Y.L., Aung, M.H....