Dryobalanops sumatrensis (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Dryobalanops sumatrensis (J.F. Gmelin) Kosterm.

Protologue: Blumea 33: 346 (1988).

Synonyms

• Dryobalanops aromatica Gaertner f. (1805),
• Dryobalanops camphora Colebr. (1816).

Vernacular names

• Brunei: kapur anggi, kapur peringgi
• Indonesia: kapur singkel, kapurun, pokok kapur barus (Sumatra)
• Malaysia: kapur (Peninsular), kapur biasa (Sabah), kapur peringgi (Sarawak).

Distribution

Peninsular Malaysia, north-western and eastern Sumatra, the Riau and Lingga archipelago, and northern and western Borneo.

Uses

D. sumatrensis represents the most important source of kapur timber as well as of camphor in Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra. The bark is used locally for walls and floors of houses and for baskets. Powder made from the kernel of the fruit is used medicinally against, for instance, stomachache and for staunching blood. The fruit (nut) is also edible.

Observations

• A very large tree up to 60(-67) m tall, with a straight and cylindrical bole, branchless for up to 40 m, having a diameter of up to 200(-340) cm and buttresses up to 5 m high; bark yellowish-brown, slash strongly aromatic but at first not exuding any dammar.
• Leaves broadly ovate, 4-6 cm × 2-4 cm, with an up to 15 mm long acumen, glabrous.
• Fruit calyx lobes spatulate, 4-6 cm × 0.8-2 cm, bordering a 6-8 mm deep and 8-15 mm wide cup.

D. sumatrensis favours well-drained, yellow, leached, sandy-clayey soils and performs best on lower and middle slopes, less so in valleys or on ridges, up to 400 m altitude. It grows locally dominant or gregarious. The density of the wood is 630-940 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content. See also the table on wood properties.

Selected sources

2, 3, 30, 89, 100, 102, 159, 297, 306, 318, 383, 417, 461, 489, 523, 561, 664, 677, 679, 685, 740, 748, 816.

Main genus page

• Dryobalanops

Authors

• M.S.M. Sosef (selection of species)