Changes

:Chromosome number: ''x''= unknown;''C. ovatum'': 2''n''= 46, 2''n''= 48 for 2 species from Indo-China and China (''C. album''Raeuschel ex DC. and''C. pimela''König)

Kedondong is the standard trade name for all timber of the family ''Burseraceae'' , hence in addition to ''Canarium'' timber also including the timber of ''Dacryodes, Garuga, Protium, Santiria, Scutinanthe'' and ''Triomma'' .

*Kedondong. *Brunei: upi

*Dioecious, evergreen, medium-sized to fairly large, sometimes large trees up to 35(-60) m tall, rarely shrubs; bole branchless for up to 25(-45) m, up to 120(-200) cm in diameter, buttresses present; bark surface smooth to scaly or dippled, often greyish, inner bark sometimes laminated, pinkish or reddish-brown, with strong resinous smell and clear sticky or oily exudate; pith of twigs usually containing vascular strands. *Leaves arranged spirally, imparipinnate, with (1-)3-17(-27) opposite and often toothed leaflets; base of petiole and of petiolules often swollen; stipules usually present, entire to fimbriate. *Inflorescence terminal or sometimes axillary, paniculate or sometimes reduced to a raceme or a spike. *Flowers actinomorphic, 3-merous, functionally unisexual but vestiges of the opposite sex present; calyx cupular with deltoid lobes, nearly always densely hairy inside; petals free, usually imbricate, creamy white, with inflexed tips; stamens 6, or rarely 3, free to entirely connate; disk intrastaminal, 6-lobed, often pilose; ovary superior, 3-celled, each cell with 2 axillary ovules, stigma sessile or short-stalked. *Fruit an oblong drupe, seated on a persistent enlarged calyx, hairy or glabrous, ripening blue-black, glaucous at first, very wrinkled when dry; endocarp stony (pyrene), with 1 or 2 cells slightly to nearly entirely reduced. *Seed with palmatifid to 3-foliolate and variously folded cotyledons. *Seedling with epigeal germination; first 2 leaves simple and opposite, entire or toothed, subsequent leaves alternate and eventually arranged spirally and imparipinnate.

Growth rings indistinct or absent, sometimes delimited by dark fibrous bands. Vessels diffuse, 8-13/mm², in short radial multiples, mostly 120-200μm in diameter (up to 280μm in ''C. indicum'' ); perforation plates simple; intervessel pits alternate, non-vestured, circular or oval, 8-10μm (occasionally up to 12μm in ''C. asperum'' ); vessel-ray pits simple with much reduced borders, enlarged, horizontally to vertically elongated or round; tyloses occasional to absent. Fibres 0.8-1.4 mm long, septate, thin-walled to thick-walled, with simple to minutely bordered pits mainly confined to the radial walls. Axial parenchyma absent or extremely rare to scanty and vasicentric, in strands with 8 or more cells. Rays usually 3-7/mm, mostly 300-600μm high, typicallyheterocellular with one row of upright and/or square marginal cells (sometimes with two rows), mostly 2-3(-4) cells wide; storied structure absent. Prismatic crystals in upright cells and occasionally procumbent cells in ''C. acutifolium'' , ''C. asperum'' , ''C. luzonicum'' and ''C. ovatum'' , in chambered upright cells and chambered axial parenchyma cells and occasionally in fibres in ''C. indicum'' and absent from ''C. hirsutum'' ; one crystal per cell or chamber. Silica bodies absent or present in procumbent and upright ray cells and fibres in ''C. asperum'' and ''C. hirsutum'' . Radial canals absent in ''C. acutifolium'' , ''C. asperum'' and ''C. hirsutum'' , but present in ''C. indicum'' , ''C. luzonicum'' and ''C. ovatum'' ; rays containing canals enlarged locally around the canal, producing distinct fusiform rays.

Species studied: ''C. acutifolium'' , ''C. asperum'' , ''C. hirsutum'' , ''C. indicum'' , ''C. luzonicum'' , ''C. ovatum'' .

The trees flower mainly in the dry season and fruit during the wet season, although many species do not have definite flowering or fruiting seasons. Flowering and fruiting of ''C. vulgare'' occurs throughout the year in West Java, as does the flowering of ''C. decumanum'' ; fruits are ripe in February-March and October. Pollination is probably effected by insects. The fruits are dispersed by fruit-eating pigeons and monkeys, and are occasionally eaten and dispersed by bats.

''Canarium'' is closely related to the genera ''Dacryodes, Haplolobus'' and ''Santiria'' . It is characterized by the often stipulate leaves, the vascular strands being usually present in the twigs, and especially by the peculiar fruits with a thick-walled, bony, and 1-3-seeded stone, the pyrene. Material without fruits may be confused with the other 3 related genera.

The genus ''Canarium'' is subdivided into 3 subgenera: subgenus ''Canarium'' , subgenus ''Canariellum'' (Engl.) Leenh., and subgenus ''Africanarium'' (Leenh.) Leenh. The first is the most widespread, occurring from Africa to the Pacific. The second is restricted to eastern Queensland, New Caledonia and adjacent islands. The third is monotypic and confined to western Africa.

''Canarium'' can be propagated by seed and seedlings may be prepared as stumps before planting. Vegetative methods of propagation are practised for the fruit species, e.g. budding and grafting techniques are used for ''C. ovatum'' . One kg contains 200-1350 seeds of ''C. ovatum'' and there are about 145 dry stones (each stone containing 1-2 seeds) of ''C. vulgare'' per kg. The fruits can be collected from the ground and the pulp needs to be removed to make germination possible. Germination can be hastened by nicking the end of the stone, slightly cracking it and soaking in cold or hot water. Air-dry seed can be stored without temperature control for several months up to 1.5 years, as recorded for ''C. vulgare'' , without losing its viability. ''C. littorale'' stones showed 25-100% germination in 30-171 days in different germination trials, ''C. megalanthum'' stones 95% germination in 17-21 days, and ''C. pseudosumatranum'' stones 90% germination in 34-88 days. ''C. vulgare'' stones have 85% viability. Seeds are sown under shade. A plantation trial in Indonesia with stumps was not very successful because of serious attacks by termites. Only stumps of 40 cm long and with a diameter of 1-2.5 cm of ''C. littorale'' had a survival rate of 75% after being planted out. The African species ''C. schweinfurthii'' Engl. was planted in Java as a trial and developed well. For fruit production, approximately 120 ''C. indicum'' trees are planted per ha (spacing about 9 m) in the Solomon Islands, and ''C. ovatum'' is planted in the Philippines at a spacing of 12-15 m (45-70 trees/ha).

Anthracnose of young seedlings has been observed in ''C. ovatum'' , but this is easily controlled by fungicides.