Apocynaceae
Cerbera

Cerbera manghas L.

First published in Sp. Pl.: 208 (1753)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Tanzania (Pemba), W. Indian Ocean to Pacific. It is a shrub or tree and grows primarily in the wet tropical biome.

Descriptions

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/147649572/147649574

Conservation
LC - least concern
[IUCN]

Apocynaceae, E.A. Omino. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 2002

Morphology General Habit
Shrub or tree 1.5–25 m high; trunk to 70 cm in diameter; bark grey to dark brown, rough, peeling off in clumps, with large lenticels; wood soft, white; glabrous in all parts except for corolla.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves petiolate; blade coriaceous, narrowly obovate (elliptic), 5–31 cm long, 1–7(–8) cm wide, apiculate to acuminate (rounded or retuse); 15–40 pairs of secondary veins; petiole 1–4.5 cm long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Inflorescence many-flowered, to 23 cm long, lax near its base but otherwise congested; peduncle 1.5–12 cm long; pedicels 3–28 mm long; bracts sepal-like.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Flowers fragrant, usually only one open per inflorescence; sepals pale green, spreading and often recurved, (4–)8–37 mm long, 2–8 mm wide; corolla tube greenish, 17–55 mm long; lobes white, often pinkish outside, obliquely elliptic to obovate, (9–)14–30(–35) mm long, (5–)9–18(–35) mm wide with 5 white or yellow lanate scales 1.5–3 mm long in the centre, pubescent at the mouth and inside the tube; stamens included, anthers subglobose, 1.5–3 mm.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruit of 2 separate (rarely half-connate) mericarps, purplish red or pale green and suffused with red, mericarps ellipsoid, 5–12 cm long, 3–7 cm in diameter.
Figures
Fig. 22 (p. 66).
Habitat
Pandanus woodland; near sea level
Distribution
Madagascar to Pacific Ocean Islands P
[FTEA]

Common Names

unknown
bintaro, kalawa, lukupan, tangena, tanghin, tanghin poison tree

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Art and Illustrations in Digifolia

    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew

  • EBC Common Names

    • Common Names from Kew's Economic Botany Collection https://www.kew.org/science/collections-and-resources/collections/economic-botany-collection

  • Flora of Tropical East Africa

    • Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • 'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • IUCN Categories

    • IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images