Malaisia

Burny vine
Flower spike and leaves
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Moraceae
Tribe: Dorstenieae
Genus: Malaisia
Blanco
Species:
M. scandens
Binomial name
Malaisia scandens
Synonyms
34 synonyms
  • for T. scandens
    • Alchornea scandens (Lour.) Müll.Arg.
    • Caturus scandens Lour.
    • Malaisia tortuosa var. scandens (Lour.) Bureau, nom. superfl.
    • Trophis scandens (Lour.) Hook. & Arn.
  • for subsp. megacarpa
    • Trophis scandens subsp. megacarpa (P.S.Green) P.S.Green
  • for subsp. scandens
    • Caturus acuminatus (Planch.) Seem.
    • Caturus cunninghamii Seem.
    • Caturus deplanchei Seem.
    • Caturus fagifolius Seem.
    • Caturus pelagicus Seem.
    • Caturus tortuosa (Blanco) Seem.
    • Caturus viridescens (Planch.) Seem.
    • Cephalotrophis javanica Blume
    • Cephalotrophis puberula Miq.
    • Dumartroya fagifolia Gaudich.
    • Maclura javanica (Blume) Miq.
    • Malaisia aculeata Blume
    • Malaisia acuminata Planch.
    • Malaisia blancoi Elmer
    • Malaisia cunninghamii Planch.
    • Malaisia puberula (Miq.) Bureau
    • Malaisia scandens var. rolfei K.Schum.
    • Malaisia spinosa Blume
    • Malaisia tortuosa Blanco
    • Malaisia tortuosa var. acuminata (Planch.) Bureau
    • Malaisia tortuosa var. racemosa Bureau
    • Malaisia tortuosa var. viridescens (Planch.) Bureau
    • Malaisia viridescens Planch.
    • Morus javanica Blume
    • Morus scandens Wall.
    • Paratrophis ostermeyeri Rech.
    • Paratrophis viridissima Rech.
    • Paratrophis zahlbruckneri Rech.
    • Trophis coccinea Zipp. ex Span.

Malaisia is a genus of plants in the fig and mulberry family Moraceae. It is a monotypic genus, meaning that it includes only one species, namely Malaisia scandens, commonly known as burny vine or crow ash. It is a rainforest vine native to areas from southern China, through Southeast Asia to Australia and the western Pacific.

Description

Malaisia scandens is a scandent woody vine with a stem diameter of up to 6 cm (2.4 in); it may climb to a height of 9 m (30 ft). The leaves are dark green above, and paler and somewhat rough on the underside. The leaf margins may be smooth or shallowly toothed, and there are 7–12 lateral veins on either side of the midrib. Twigs and petioles exude a white sap when cut or broken.

Male inflorescences take the form of a catkin and grow up to 3 cm (1.2 in) long in Australia, and up to 6 cm (2.4 in) long in China. Female inflorescences consist of three or four more or less spherical flower clusters together on a peduncle about 1 cm (0.4 in) long. This species is dioecious, meaning that male and female flowers are borne on separate plants.

The fruit is a red ellipsoid drupe about 9 mm (0.35 in) long. Three or four are attached to a warty receptacle.

Distribution

This species is native to the following regions as defined in the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions:

Habitat

Malaisia scandens grows in a variety of forest types including rainforest, monsoon forest, and beach forest. In Australia it occurs at altitudes from sea level to 1,100 m (3,600 ft), and in China it is found up to 300 m (980 ft).

Taxonomy

This plant was first described in 1790, as Caturus scandens, by Portuguese botanist João de Loureiro who erected the genus Caturus Lour. to accommodate the new species. That name, however, was illegitimate as it was a homonym of Caturus L. authored by Carl Linnaeus in 1767. Subsequently, William Jackson Hooker and George Arnott Walker Arnott transferred the species to the genus Trophis in 1837, then in 1855 Jules Émile Planchon transferred it to Malaisia. This last move was reversed when, in 1988, Cornelis Christiaan Berg placed it in a monotypic section of Trophis.

Most recently, the genus Malaisia was reinstated by Wendy L. Clement and George D. Weiblen in a study published in 2009 which examined the relationships within the Moraceae family using both mophological and molecular characters. Within the family, Clement and Weiblen place this species in the tribe Dorstenieae.

Some authorities, such as World Flora Online and the National Herbarium of New South Wales, treat this species as Trophis scandens.

Subspecies

There are two subspecies – Malaisia scandens subsp. megacarpa was described in 1986 by English botanist Peter Shaw Green, and is endemic to Lord Howe Island. The other subspecies is the autonym M. scandens subsp. scandens.

References

  1. ↑ "Malaisia Blanco". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 2026. Retrieved 29 July 2026.
  2. ↑ "Malaisia scandens (Lour.) Planch". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI). Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research, Australian Government. Retrieved 29 July 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Malaisia scandens (Lour.) Planch". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 2026. Retrieved 29 July 2026.
  4. 1 2 "Malaisia scandens subsp. megacarpa P.S.Green". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 2026. Retrieved 29 July 2026.
  5. 1 2 "Malaisia scandens subsp. scandens". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 2026. Retrieved 29 July 2026.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 F.A.Zich; B.P.M.Hyland; T.Whiffen; R.A.Kerrigan (2020). "Trophis scandens subsp. scandens". Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants. Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research, Australian Government. Retrieved 29 July 2026.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Malaisia scandens (Loureiro) Planchon, Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot., sér. 4. 3: 293. 1855". Flora of China. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA. Retrieved 29 July 2026.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Kodela, P.G. (2022). "Malaisia scandens (Lour.) Planch". Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. Retrieved 29 July 2026.
  9. ↑ Cooper, Wendy; Cooper, William T. (June 2004). Fruits of the Australian Tropical Rainforest. Clifton Hill, Victoria, Australia: Nokomis Editions. p. 329. ISBN 978-0-9581742-1-3.
  10. ↑ Loureiro, João de (1790). Flora cochinchinensis (in Latin). Vol. 2. p. 612.
  11. ↑ Hooker, William Jackson; Walker Arnott, G.A. (1841). The botany of Captain Beechey’s voyage. London: H. G. Bohn. p. 214.
  12. ↑ Clement, Wendy L.; Weiblen, George D. (2009). "Morphological Evolution in the Mulberry Family (Moraceae)". Systematic Botany. 34 (3): 530–552. doi:10.1600/036364409789271155.
  13. ↑ "Trophis scandens (Lour.) Hook. & Arn". World Flora Online. World Flora Online Consortium. 2026. Retrieved 31 July 2026.
  14. ↑ Harden G.J. (2000). "Trophis scandens (Lour.) Hook. & Arn". PlantNET (The NSW Plant Information Network System). Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Sydney. Retrieved 29 July 2026.
  15. ↑ "Trophis scandens subsp. megacarpa (P.S.Green) P.S.Green". PlantNET (The NSW Plant Information Network System). Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Sydney. Retrieved 29 July 2026.