Payena dasyphylla (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Payena dasyphylla (Miq.) Pierre

Protologue: Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Paris: 527 (1885).

Synonyms

Bassia caudata Ridley (1923), Madhuca caudata (Ridley) H.J. Lam (1925).

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: balam kerang, nyato kerah (Sumatra)
• Malaysia: nyatoh ekor (Peninsular)
• Thailand: phikun-dong (Pattani).

Distribution

Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra; possibly also Thailand.

Uses

The timber is used as nyatoh. The latex is collected locally for gutta-percha in Sumatra.

Observations

A medium-sized to fairly large tree up to 35 m tall, with columnar bole up to 100 cm in diameter, and steep buttresses; leaves usually elliptical, densely ferruginous and woolly pubescent beneath; flowers up to 1.7 cm long, recorded as white and purplish-red; fruit ovoid or obovoid, 1.8-2.5 cm long, densely ferruginous pubescent. P. dasyphylla occurs in lowlands and mountains up to 1400 m altitude, and is not common. The timber is heavy for nyatoh (about 840 kg/m³at 15% moisture content).

Selected sources

102, 581, 727, 779, 792.