Canarium vrieseanum (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia
Introduction

Protologue: A.DC., Monogr. phan. 4: 142, t. 3, fig. 15-18 (1883).

Family: Burseraceae

Synonyms

Indonesia: are, kon ne uwal, solo (Minahassa, Sulawesi)
Philippines: gisau, Williams gisau (Sulu), gisau-kitid (Tagalog), gapug (Subanun), sagasa (Manobo).

Indonesia (Sulawesi) and the Philippines (Mindanao, Luzon).

The seeds are edible. The resin is burnt for light. The wood is rather tough and hard. It is used as kedondong, e.g. for construction.

A medium-sized tree up to 31 m tall, bole straight, up to 45 cm in diameter, buttresses absent or small, bark surface grey; stipules persistent, inserted on the petiole, narrow.
Leaves with 7-11(-15) leaflets, leaflets distinctly and long-acuminate at apex, margin entire, pubescent on the midrib above and on the veins below, with 12-18(-24) pairs of secondary veins which are prominent below.
Inflorescence axillary, male one narrowly paniculate, female one racemose; flowers 6-10 mm long, stamens 6.
Infructescences 10-45 cm long with ca. 5-10 fruits.
Fruit an ovoid, acute drupe, circular in cross-section, 2-3 cm × 1-2 cm, more or less velvety, containing 1 seed.

C. vrieseanum is polymorphic; 3 forms have been recognized:

f. vrieseanum with slender branches and 3-5-jugate leaves occurring in Sulawesi,
f. williamsii (C.B. Robinson) Leenh., stouter tree with pubescent 6-7-jugate leaves an fruiting richer in Mindanao, and
f. stenophyllum Leenh., stout tree with nearly glabrous many-jugate leaves and small fruits restricted to the Davao Province in Mindanao.

C. vrieseanum is found in primary and secondary forest, up to 500 m altitude. The density of the wood is 610-660 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content.

Brown, W.H., 19511957. Useful plants of the Philippines. Reprint of the 19411943 ed. 3 Volumes. Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Technical Bulletin 10. Bureau of Printing, Manila, the Philippines.

van Steenis, C.G.G.J. et al. (Editors), 1950-. Flora Malesiana. Series 1. Vol. 1, 4-10. Centre for Research and Development in Biology, Bogor, Indonesia, and Rijksherbarium, Leiden, the Netherlands. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Boston, London.

68, 162, 342, 366, 474, 544, 673. timbers