Sauropus rhamnoides Blume, Bijdr. 596 (1826)

Name meaning 'similar to Rhamnaceae'.

Synonyms
Aalius rhamnoides (Blume) Kuntze
Phyllanthus placenta Hassk.
Phyllanthus placentatus Noronha [Invalid]
Sauropus hayatae Beille
Sauropus lanceolatus Hook.f.
Sauropus rostratus auct. non Miq

Description
Herbs to (scandent) shrubs to treelets to small vines, up to 6(-10) m high, dbh up to 4(-12) cm; young branches with 2 or 4 ribs, flowering branches 0.8-2 mm thick. Indumentum absent. Stipules triangular, 2-3.5 by 0.8-1.5 mm, basally usually eared, usually thin with membranous margin, usually caducous, sometimes torn-like. Leaves: petiole 3-4 mm long, flattened and grooved along midrib above; blade ovate (to elliptic), 2.2-17.2 by 1-8.4 cm, length/width ratio 1.2-3.2, papery, base cuneate to somewhat oblique, margin flat to recurved, apex (gradually to) suddenly smaller with 2 sinuses acuminate to cuspidate (see note 2 and 3), often mucronulate, dark green above, pale light green, usually not papillate underneath; venation well-visible on both sides, nerves 7-10, veins somewhat scalariform, veinlets reticulate. Inflorescences axillary fascicles, sometimes short staminate racemes of up to 5 mm long, flowers usually single or few together, usually all of same sex. Staminate flowers 4.5-19(-25, Philippines) mm in diameter; pedicel 6.2-12 mm long, green to white; calyx not or hardly lobed and circular (to lobed and more star-shaped in SE Thailand and the Lesser Sunda Islands, or sometimes deeply lobed in the Philippines), white to striped pinkish or reddish to reddish, lobes 1-1.6 by 1.5-2.5 mm, somewhat leathery, apex entire; stamens: androphore 0.1-0.4 mm long, anthers 0.3-0.5 by 0.3-0.4 mm, blackish. Pistillate flowers 6.5-27 mm in diameter; pedicel 7.5-20 mm long, apically 1-1.5 mm thick, very pale greenish; calyx lobes thick, only at very base attached, obovate, yellowish or light green to red, smaller inner ones (4-)6-10 by (3.3-)6-8 mm, larger outer ones (4-)7-16 by (4-)7-11 mm; pistil light yellow to whitish, ovary bell-shaped, 1.8-3.6 by 1.5-2.7 mm; stigmas 1.3-2.3 mm long, horizontal, thick, upper half curved, forming more than a complete circle. Fruits ellipsoid to obovoid, inflated, somewhat fleshy but pergamentaceous when dry, 13-31 by 13-23 mm, white to pale yellow to finally red, somewhat higher than broad, wall thin except near sutures; column 17-19 mm long, in upper 2/3rd with heart-shaped remnants of septae. Seeds triangular in section, hollow adaxially, c. 11 by 6-7 by 4-5.5 mm, blackish.

Ecology
Evergreen forest, mixed Dipterocarp forest, lower montane forest, secondary forest to open vegetations, along rivers or forest edges, swamp forest edges, ladang edges, also as village hedge, terrain level to hilly to mountainous; soil: rich in clay, sometimes black in colour, sometimes rocky, sometimes covered with guano, andesite; bedrock: basalt, granite, limestone. Altitude: 5-1750 m.

Uses
The fruits are edible and the leaves are sometimes used as vegetable.

Distribution
India, Burma, Southeast Asian mainland, Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, Lesser Sunda Islands, Borneo, Philippines.

Local names
Borneo: Kalimantan: Kabo, oroh mi(h), rangkok rimba; Sabah: Obah (Malay); Sarawak: Changkok manis (hutan) (Malay).
Java: Djiendjieng (Javanese); katoek-badak, katoek endog, telor kotok (Sundanese).
Lesser Sunda Islands: Mintje, tago potjo (Flores).
Malay Peninsula: Asing asing hutan.
Sumatra: Alor anteu anteu, katoei.
Thailand: Mayom liam.