Siamese rough-bush

Siamese rough-bush
Streblus asper Lour.
Family: Mulberry Moraceae
Order: Thorns Urticales

Describe:
The tree is 4 - 8m tall. The trunk is crooked, branches are divided early, the bark is gray, fibrous and has white latex. Young branches are hairy. Leaves are simple, grow stiffly, rough, 4 - 11cm long, 2 - 3cm wide, ovate or oval shaped, blunt tip or with a short sharp tip, gradually narrower at the base, irregularly serrated leaf edges, sometimes entire, veined. floating on the underside, leaf stalks are hairy. Triangular stipules exist.
Flowers are unisexual and dioecious. Male inflorescences are oval in shape, 5 - 7mm in diameter, densely arranged on the branches. The flowers have oblong, spear-shaped sepals, twisted, stuck together at the base, stamens 4 arranged opposite the sepals. Single or 2 - 4 female flowers in leaf axils, with bracts. The calyx has 4 oval, pointed lobes, folded over, covering the young bulb. The ovary is smooth, has 2 long thread-shaped proboscis, joined together at the base, 1 ovule.
The berry is spherical, yellow with a sepal at the base, 1 seed.

Distribution:
World: China, India, Nepal, Myanmar, Malaysia...
Vietnam: trees grow scattered in open forests or shrublands. Flowers January - March.

Uses:
The wood is white, smooth-grained, beautiful, soft, and can be used for carving. The bark has many fibers that can be used as raw materials to make paper and artificial cotton.

Referenced documents : Economic wood trees - Tran Hop, Nguyen Boi Quynh - page 550.