Payena obscura (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Payena obscura Burck

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

Synonyms

• Payena havilandii King & Gamble (1905).

Vernacular names

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

Distribution

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

Uses

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

Observations

• 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.

Selected sources

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

Main genus page

• Payena

Authors

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