Pangium

views updated

Pangium (family Flacourtiaceae) A genus of trees in which the leaves have palmate nervation. The flowers are unisexual. The fruits are globose, large, woody, and contain numerous large seeds, embedded in pulp. The plants are poisonous in all their parts, but the seeds are edible after leaching, and contain an edible oil. The dried fruits are used as rattles in New Guinea. There is 1 species, P. edule, which occurs in rain forests from Malesia to the Pacific Islands.

More From encyclopedia.com