The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Scaphium macropodum
Scaphium macropodum is a tropical tree in the Malvaceae (mallow) family, native to Southeast Asia, grown mainly for its seeds, which have medicinal and culinary uses. It is a forest tree rather than a garden or houseplant, so the usual care advice does not apply.
Scaphium macropodum is a tree species in the family Malvaceae, subfamily Sterculioideae (previously placed in the Sterculiaceae). No subspecies are listed in the Catalogue of Life; there is little concern about its conservation status.
Scaphium macropodum may be known as the "malva nut tree", although this name is also applied to the similar Scaphium affine. It is found in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam (where it is called (cay) ươi). Throughout the region the seeds have commercial value, having traditional medicinal (and culinary) uses: with "cooling" properties especially for treating fevers, phlegm, coughs and sore throats, respiratory conditions, and generally improving health.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Scaphium macropodum 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.
