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Dillenia suffruticosa
In Singapore: Simpoh Air, Simpuh Air, Shrubby Simpoh, Simpoh Ayer, White Simpoh, Yellow Simpoh (Native to Singapore, Least Concern)
Shrubby Dillenia is a large evergreen shrub or small tree from tropical Southeast Asia, grown as an ornamental and used locally for wrapping food. It likes warm, humid conditions and moist soil, and it can become an invasive weed in some areas.
Dillenia suffruticosa, also known as simpoh air, simpor, or CB leaf, is a species of Dillenia found in tropical South East Asia in secondary forest and swampy ground. It is a highly invasive weed in Sri Lanka.
The simpor is the national flower of Brunei, and can be found everywhere across the country. Claire Waight Keller included the plant to represent the country in Meghan Markle's wedding veil, which included the distinctive flora of each Commonwealth country.
The plant is found in tropical South East Asia in secondary forest and swampy grounds that are undisturbed forest such as riversides up to 700 m altitude. They can also be found on alluvial places such as swamps, mangroves, riversides, but sometimes also present on hillsides and ridges, which have clayey to sandy soil texture. Dillenia suffruticosa is also found in Sri Lanka, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, Borneo and in the tropical regions of Singapore, and Hawaii (where it is an introduced species).
Dillenia suffruticosa has other uses, these include medicine and storage. The medicinal properties include the leaves and roots being used against inflammations, itch, stomach ache, and recovery after delivery. The storage properties consist of large leaves of the plant being used to wrap food (tempeh or fermented soy bean cake) instead of using a plastic bag and/or the leaves can be shaped into a cone to contain or hold food (rojak). They can be used to attract birds in urban areas and are planted as an ornamental plant.
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Dillenia suffruticosa by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
