Mallotus tetracoccus (Roxb.) Kurz, J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, Pt. 2, Nat. Hist. 42: 245 (1873)

Name meaning 'four chambers', referring to the fruits which are four locular.

Synonyms
Mallotus albus var. occidentalis Hook.f.
Mallotus ferrugineus (Roxb.) Müll.Arg.
Rottlera ferruginea Roxb.
Rottlera tetracocca Roxb.

Description
Trees 5-15 m tall. Branchlets brownish stellate-tomentose. Stipules ovate-triangular, 1.5-3 mm, pubescent; petiole 6-15 cm, tomentose; leaf blade triangular-ovate or ovate, sometimes 1- or 2-lobate, 10-25 × 9-20 cm, leathery, abaxially brownish tomentose, adaxially glabrous, base obtuse or truncate, sometimes slightly peltate, with 2-4 basal glands, margin repand or entire, apex acute or acuminate; basal veins 3, lateral veins 4-6 pairs. Male inflorescences terminal, branched, 12-20 cm, tomentose; peduncle stout; bracts triangular, 1-1.5 mm. Male flowers 3-9-fascicled; pedicel ca. 4 mm; calyx lobes 3 or 4, oblong, 2.5-3 mm; stamens 60-80. Female inflorescences paniculate, 9-14 cm, tomentose; bracts lanceolate, 3-5 mm. Female flowers: sepals 4 or 5, unequal, ovate, 3-4 mm; ovary tomentose, often 4-loculed; style often 4, ca. 3 mm, plumose. Fruiting pedicel ca. 5 mm; capsule depressed globose, ca. 1 cm in diam., gray tomentose and densely shortly softly spiny, spines stellate-pubescent. Seeds subovoid, ca. 6 mm, verruculose.

Ecology
Pioneer species found in disturbed evergreen forest, sometimes mixed with deciduous elements, along roadsides, in thickets in cultivated areas, garden boundaries and secondary forest; bedrock granite. Altitude: sea level up to 1600 m.

Distribution
Sri Lanka, India, Buthan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Thailand, China (Yunnan). Probably also present in Myanmar.

Uses

Local Names