Skip to main content

Pong pong (Cerbera odollam)

Dlium Pong Pong (Cerbera odollam)

Pong pong (Cerbera odollam) is a plant species in Apocynaceae, a medium-sized tree with circular branches around the trunk, non-woody, gummy white, highly poisonous and the leaves are used for bioinsecticide, seeds are used as biodiesel material and often used for ornamental plants.

C. odollam is less than 17 meters tall, grows upright, has low and sideways branches to form an umbrella canopy, the bark is thin and dark brown, lots of white sap, the whole stem has traces of circular petioles.









Leaves have large stalks with thick strands, inverted or elongated ovoid, 4.5-7 cm wide, 15-30 cm long, blunt base, sharp tip, a large bone in the middle with sideways veins, dark green and shiny upper surface, the lower surface is lighter.

The white flower is located at the end of the stem and long stalk. Trumpet-shaped crown with five tongues, tube 1.5-2 cm long, white with yellow tunnels and a few yellow hairs.

The fruit is round, green in color with a green fibrous shell enclosing an ovoid core measuring approximately 2x1.5 cm and consisting of two matching white fleshy halves. The white kernels turn purple when exposed to sunlight, then dark gray and finally brown or black.

TAXON

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Gentianales
Family: Apocynaceae
Subfamily: Rauvolfioideae
Tribe: Plumerieae
Subtribe: Thevetiinae
Genus: Cerbera L. in Sp. Pl.: 208 (1753)
Species: Cerbera odollam Gaertn. in Fruct. Sem. Pl. 2: 193 (1791)

HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS

Tanghinia odollam (Gaertn.) G.Don in Gen. Hist. 4: 98 (1837)

HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS

Cerbera dilatata Markgr. in Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 61: 196 (1927)
Cerbera forsteri Seem. in Fl. Vit.: 157 (1866)
Cerbera lactaria Buch.-Ham. ex Spreng. in Syst. Veg., ed. 16. 1: 642 (1825)
Odollamia malabarica Raf. in Sylva Tellur.: 162 (1838)
Tanghinia lactaria (Buch.-Ham. ex Spreng.) G.Don in R.Sweet, Sweet's Hort. Brit., ed. 3.: 461 (1839)
Excoecaria ovatifolia Noronha in Verh. Batav. Genootsch. Kunsten 5(4): 1 (1790)

PUBLICATIONS

Baksh-Comeau, Y., Maharaj, S.S., Adams, C.D., Harris, S.A., Filer, D.L. & Hawthorne, W.D. (2016). An annotated checklist of the vascular plants of Trinidad and Tobago with analysis of vegetation types and botanical 'hotspots'. Phytotaxa 250: 1-431.

Debnath, H.S. (2004). Mangroves of Andaman & Nicobar islands: taxonomy and ecology: 1-133. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehra Dun.

Dy Phon, P. (2000). Dictionnaire des plantes utilisées au Cambodge: 1-915. Chez l'auteur, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Govaerts, R. (1999). World Checklist of Seed Plants 3(1, 2a & 2b): 1-1532. MIM, Deurne.

Govaerts, R. (2003). World Checklist of Selected Plant Families Database in ACCESS: 1-216203. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Karthigeyan, K., Pandey, R.P. & Mao, A.A. (eds.) (2023). Flora of Andaman and Nicobar Islands 2: 1-689. Botanical Survey of India. Ministry of environment, forest and climate change.

Middleton, D.J. (2007). Apocynaceae (subfamilies Rauvolfioideae and Apocynoideae). Flora Malesiana 18: 1-474. Noordhoff-Kolff N.V., Djakarta.

Middleton, D.J. (2011). Flora of peninsular Malaysia, II, 2: 1-235. Institut Penyelidikan Perhutanan Malaysia.

Middleton, D.J. (2014). Flore du Cambodge du Laos et du Viêt-Nam 33: 1-276. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris.

National Parks Board Singapore (2006). Vascular Plant Life Checklist Pulau Ubin www.nparks.gov.sg/nparks_cms/cms/cmsmgr/data/6/PlantChkList.xls.

Nurtjahya, E. & al. (2026). Flowering Plants of Bangka Island: Native and Introduced. Acta Botanica Hungarica 68: 127-156.

Plunkett, G.M., Ranker, T.A., Sam, C. & Balick, M.J. (2022). Towards a checklist of the vascular flora of Vanuatu. Candollea 77: 105-118.

Sykes, W.R. (2016). Flora of the Cook Islands: 1-973. National Tropical Botanical Garden, Hawaii.

Welsh, S.L. (1998). Flora Societensis: 1-420. E.P.S. Inc. Utah.

Wheatley, J.I. (1992). A guide to the common trees of Vanuatu. With lists of their traditional uses & ni-Vanuatu names: 1-308. Department of Forestry, Port Vila.

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

VERNACULAR NAME

Bengali: ডাবর Dabur
Chinese (simplified): 海檬树
Chinese (traditional): 南洋海檬果
English: Pong Pong, Suicide tree, Grey milkwood, Jungle mango, Sea mango, Yellow-eyed cerbera
Finnish: Intiansurmanpuu, Ontiansurmanpuu
French: Arbre à suicide
German: Zerberusbaum
Hindi: पिलिकिरबिर Pilikirbir
Indonesian: Bintaro, Pohon pong-pong, Beribadak, Kenyen putih, Koyandan, Mangga prabu, Mangga laut
Japanese: マリアナミフクラギ
Java: Pong pong, Moto buto
Kannada: Chande, Honde, Monde mara, Kande mara
Konkani: Hondya ruku, Kharo uro, Sukanu
Madagascar: Famentana, kisopo, samanta, tangena
Malayalam: Chattankai, Othallam, Odalam
Marathi: Sukanu
Odia: Pani amba
Russian: Цербера одолламская
Sanskrit: Auddalaka, Svanamara
Sinhalese: ගොන් කදුරු
Slovak: Cerbera vražedná
Sumatera: Kayu susu
Taiwan: 南洋海檬果
Tamil: Kattalari, Utalai
Telugu: Adavi arali
Thai: ตีนเป็ดน้ำ
Tulu: Chende mara, Tende mara

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

Popular posts from this blog

Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) manufacture bubble-nets as tools to increase prey intake

NEWS - Humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) create bubble net tools while foraging, consisting of internal tangential rings, and actively control the number of rings, their size, depth and horizontal spacing between the surrounding bubbles. These structural elements of the net increase prey intake sevenfold. Researchers have known that humpback whales create “bubble nets” for hunting, but the new report shows that the animals also manipulate them in a variety of ways to maximize catches. The behavior places humpbacks among the rare animals that make and use their own tools. “Many animals use tools to help them find food, but very few actually make or modify these tools themselves,” said Lars Bejder, director of the Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP), University of Hawaii at Manoa. “Humpback whales in southeast Alaska create elaborate bubble nets to catch krill. They skillfully blow bubbles in patterns that form a web with internal rings. They actively control details such ...
Read more

Lolot (Piper sarmentosum)

Lolot pepper ( Piper sarmentosum ) is a species of plant in Piperaceae, perennial herb, erect or lodging, creeping rhizome, up to 120 cm long, branched, enlarged branches, cylindrical stems, brown or green, often grooved, growing on the forest floor and shade. P. sarmentosum has leaf stalks up to 15 cm long, up to 13 cm wide, green, alternately arranged, heart-shaped, pointed tips and flat margins. The leaves have 5 main veins from the base of the blade, linear and slightly curved to the tip, glands on the upper surface and many fine pinnate veins. The upper side is shiny green, the lower side is pale green. The flowers are white. The fruit grows in the upper armpit of the leaf, is slightly oval and green. The leaves are used as a medicine for asthma, malaria, stomach ache, tinea versicolor, toothache, difficulty urinating, aches and pains, maintaining stamina, antibacterial, antimicrobial, antioxidant, and so on. TAXON Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiosperma...
Read more

Cogon grass (Imperata cylindrica)

Cogon grass ( Imperata cylindrica ) is a species of plant in the Poaceae, an annual grass, sharp leaves, long and scaly shoots, creeping underground, white or purplish flowers, very adaptive and grows in all climates. I. cylindrica has sharply pointed shoot tips that emerge from the ground, up to 3 meters high, short stems, rising above the ground surface. Leaves are long ribbon-shaped, pointed tip, narrow base, up to 100 cm long, very rough and sharply serrated edges, long hairs at the base and wide veins. Inflorescences in panicles, up to 28 cm long, spikes long-haired and white to 1 cm. The seeds spread quickly with the wind or via rhizomes that quickly penetrate the soil. This species grows in tropical to subtropical areas, elevation up to 2000 meters, temperature 20-40C, rainfall 500-3500 mm/year, pH 4-7.5, lots of sunlight to a bit of shade. This plant dominates open land, former forests, dry rice fields, roadsides and so on. This plant contains mannitol, glucose, sacharose...
Read more