Payena obscura (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Payena obscura Burck

Protologue: Ann. Jard. Bot. Buitenzorg 5: 60 (1886).

• Payena havilandii King & Gamble (1905).

• Indonesia: balam kadidie (Sumatra), nyatoh enkelit, nyatoh riau (Kalimantan)
• Malaysia: nyatoh sundek, getah sundek (Peninsular).

Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra, the Riau Archipelago and Borneo (Sabah, Sarawak, possibly Kalimantan).

The timber is used as nyatoh or bitis. The latex gives a gutta-percha of fairly good quality.

• A medium-sized to large tree up to 43 m tall, with columnar bole up to 80 cm in diameter, buttressed.
• Leaves elliptical, elliptical-ovate or elliptical-obovate, glabrous or subglabrous beneath.
• Flowers rather small, up to 1 cm long, white or yellowish.
• Fruit ovoid, 2-4 cm long, acuminate, pubescent or glabrous.

P. obscura is closely related to P. leerii, but differs particularly in the shape of the fruits. It occurs in lowlands and on mountain slopes to 1000 m altitude; locally it is common (e.g. in Peninsular Malaysia). The timber is fairly heavy to heavy with a density of 680-1010 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content.

100, 102, 318, 581, 727, 779, 792.

• Payena

• R.H.M.J. Lemmens (selection of species)