Vatica nitens (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Vatica nitens King

Protologue: Journ. As. Soc. Beng. 62(2): 104 (1893).

Synonyms

Sunaptea nitens (King) Ridley (1922), Vatica cuspidata Browne (1955) non (Ridley) Sym.

Vernacular names

• Malaysia: resak daun panjang (Peninsular).

Distribution

Peninsular Malaysia and northern Borneo (Sarawak, Brunei, Sabah).

Uses

The timber is used as resak.

Observations

A medium-sized to large tree, up to 40 m tall with straight, cylindrical bole up to 70 cm in diameter and small buttresses; leaves narrowly oblong, 10-17 cm × 3.5-5.5 cm, with 12-22 pairs of secondary veins, glabrescent, petiole 10-20 mm long; inflorescences up to 11 cm long; flower buds up to 7 mm long; nut globose, large, up to 30 mm long, surrounded by 2 longer and 3 shorter fruit calyx lobes, free to the base. V. nitens occurs scattered in mixed dipterocarp forest on low hills and ridges up to 600 m altitude. In Brunei it is reported to be one of the best resak timbers; it is one of the few common Vatica species reaching large dimensions. The density of the wood is 710-975 kg/m³at 15% moisture content.

Selected sources

30, 102, 253, 425, 677, 748.