Pinanga sylvestris is a species of tree in the Arecaceae, or palm tree, family. It grows 2-6 m tall, sometimes in bundles, shade tolerant, from Meghalaya (India) to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Zhōngguó/China.[1][3][4][5][6][7][8] In Thailand it is recorded in the Khao Soi Dao Wildlife Sanctuary, in Chanthaburi Province, as a very common mid-storey tree in the Quercus semiserrata-dominated rainforest at 1,400 to 1,540 m.[9] In Cambodia it occurs uncommonly in coastal vegetation communities, but is common in dense and semi-dense evergreen rainforest in the lowlands and at moderate altitude.[5][10] The palm grows in similar dense and semi-dense communities in Laos and Vietnam.[5] On the mountain of Ngọc Linh in Quảng Nam Province of Vietnam, it dominates the ground layer of low montane broadleaf evergreen forest, that occurs from 150 to 1000m.[7]
In Cambodia, the palm is given the names sla snga:b (sla=palm/areca, snga:b=yawn, Lewitz & Rollet give it as sla sngap, this sort grows in coastal forests), sla khmau (khau=black, Lewitz & Rollet give sla tourlieng as another name for this variety) and sla kânndaôr (kânndaôr=mouse, Haynes & McLaughlin give the name as sla condor).[5][6][10] The fruit of all of these Cambodian palms may replace areca nut in the betel quid, and sometimes the sla snga:b variety are used as bait in fishing, while the sla khmau and kânndaôr types have their terminal bud and pith of the trunk harvested for food. In Zhongguo/China a common name is hua shan zhu (Pinyin).[11]
^ abHaynes, Jody; McLaughlin, John (2000). "Edible Palms and Their Uses". University of Florida, Extension: Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Fact Sheet. MDCE-00-50-1. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
^Flora of China Editorial Committee (August 2010). C. Y. Wu; P. H. Raven; D. Y. Hong (eds.). Acoraceae through Cyperaceae. Flora of China. Vol. 23. St. Louis: Missouri Botanical Garden Press. pp. 1–515. ISBN9781930723993.
