science

Tetracera sarmentosa

Tetracera sarmentosa is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Tetracera sarmentosa rather than just read about it. In short: Tetracera sarmentosa is a vine/climber and shrub in the Dilleniaceae family. It is native to parts of Tropical and Temperate Asia, from Peninsular Malaysia to China and Sri Lanka.

Key takeaways

Tetracera sarmentosa belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Tetracera sarmentosa to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Tetracera sarmentosa from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Tetracera sarmentosa is a vine/climber and shrub in the Dilleniaceae family. It is native to parts of Tropical and Temperate Asia, from Peninsular Malaysia to China and Sri Lanka.

Description A woody vine/climber, evergreen, growing up to 20m in China, it can grow as a shrub in Bangladesh. Scabrous branchlet that are hairy when young but become glabrous later. Leaves leathery, very scabrous, some 4–12 x 2–5 cm in size, at maturity the abaxial surface is glabrous, or only the veins pubescent. The carpels and sepals are glabrous. The 3 petals are white, some 4–5 mm long. The orange fruit (follicle) are around 1 cm, thin and leathery pericarp is slightly bright when dry, and has persistent style. One black seed, with yellow aril, fringed, enclosing the base. Flowers from April to May in China, while in Tripura, India, it flowers from April to June and fruits from July and August.

Distribution The area of Tetracera sarmentosa's indigenous growth is in Asia, both in tropical and temperate areas. Countries and regions where it occurs are: Peninsular Malaysia; Thailand; Vietnam; China (Southeast and South-central including Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Hainan); Laos; Myanmar; and Sri Lanka. It is reported from Bangladesh (regions of Chittagong, Chittagong Hill Tracts, Cox’s Bazar, and Satchari National Park, Habiganj district), from India (Gondacherra & Chawmanu, Dhalai District; Chamtilla, North Tripura District, Tripura), and Biswanath district, Assam), and in Indonesia (Bengkulu, Sumatera).

Habitat It is one of the dominant taxa in the secondary tropical evergreen seasonal angiosperm lowland swamp forests of Central Vietnam (Hải Lăng District, Quảng Trị Province, and in the vicinity of Nha Trang, Khánh Hòa Province). At those areas it grows on sandy soil 10–50m elevation near the sea shore. In China the species occurs in sparse forests, thickets and on barren hills. In the Satchari National Park of Bangladesh it occurs on forest edges.

Vernacular names In China, the plant is known as 錫葉藤/锡叶藤 (Mandarin xi ye teng, Cantonese sehk yihp tàhng) or 許願藤 (Cantonese héui yuhn tàhng). The plant is known as ulu ludi by Tanchangya people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh). Amongst Karbi and Munda peoples of Assam, Tetracera sarmentosa is known as samphat. A name used in English is sandpaper vine

Uses The plant is one of the foods fed to captive elephants in Sri Lanka. It is reported that Karbi and Munda peoples of Assam use cut stems to obtain water in dense forests where there is no other source. The root extract of Tetracera sarmentosa is used for treatment of rheumatism by the Tanchangya people, Bangladesh. The species has a number of leaf extracts that have potential medical effects, though there is no evidence that the plant is effective against any disease.

History The species was first described in 1794 by the Danish-Norwegian botanist, herbalist and zoologist Martin Vahl (1749–1804), in his Symbolae Botanicae.

Further reading Additional information can be found in the following:

Dy Phon, P. (2000). Dictionnaire des plantes utilisées au Cambodge: 1–915. chez l'auteur, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. [Cites as synonym of Tetracera scandens] Kress, W.J., DeFilipps, R.A., Farr, E. & Kyi, D.Y.Y. (2003). A Checklist of the Trees, Shrubs, Herbs and Climbers of Myanmar Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 45: 1–590. Smithsonian Institution. Lê, T.C. (2005). Danh lục các loài thục vật Việt Nam [Checklist of Plant Species of Vietnam] 3: 1–1248. Hà Noi : Nhà xu?t b?n Nông nghi?p Newman, M., Ketphanh, S., Svengsuksa, B., Thomas, P., Sengdala, K., Lamxay, V. & Armstrong, K. (2007). A checklist of the vascular plants of Lao PDR: 1–394. Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh. Sarder, N.U. & Hassan, M.A. (eds.) (2018). Vascular flora of Chittagong and the Chittagong Hill Tracts 2: 1–1060. Bangladesh National Herbarium, Dhaka. Smitinand, T. & Larsen, K. (eds.) (1970-1975). Flora of Thailand 2: 1–484. The Forest Herbarium, Royal Forest Department. Wu, Z., Raven, P.H. & Hong, D. (eds.) (2007). Flora of China 12: 1–534. Science Press (Beijing) & Missouri Botanical Garden Press (St. Louis).

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Tetracera sarmentosa

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Tetracera sarmentosa claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Tetracera sarmentosa before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Tetracera sarmentosa ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Tetracera sarmentosa

In research: Tetracera sarmentosa appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Tetracera sarmentosa in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Tetracera sarmentosa is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Botanical taxa named by Carl Linnaeus, Flora of Guangdong, Flora of Guangxi, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Tetracera sarmentosa outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Tetracera sarmentosa in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Tetracera sarmentosa means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Tetracera sarmentosa out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tetracera sarmentosa in simple terms?

Tetracera sarmentosa is a vine/climber and shrub in the Dilleniaceae family. It is native to parts of Tropical and Temperate Asia, from Peninsular Malaysia to China and Sri Lanka.

Why does Tetracera sarmentosa matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Tetracera sarmentosa?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Tetracera sarmentosa.