Palaquium maingayi (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Palaquium maingayi (C.B. Clarke) King & Gamble

Protologue: Journ. As. Soc. Beng. pt. 2, Nat. Hist. 74(2): 191 (1905).

Synonyms

• Croixia maingayi (C.B. Clarke) Baehni (1965).

Vernacular names

• Malaysia: nyatoh tembaga, sundik, getah ketapang (Peninsular)
• Thailand: chik-khao (Chumphon, Surat Thani), chik-nom-hin (Pattani), yak-keng (Malay, Pattani).

Distribution

Southern Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia (except Perlis, Pinang, Terengganu).

Uses

The timber is used as nyatoh. The latex makes gutta-percha of moderate quality, often used as an adulterant for gutta-percha from P. gutta.

Observations

• A fairly large tree up to 40 m tall, with columnar bole up to 115 cm in diameter and usually prominent buttresses.
• Leaves densely to loosely clustered at tip of twigs, obovate or sometimes oblong-elliptical, with distinct, transverse tertiary veins, brownish woolly-hairy beneath.
• Flowers in up to over 30-flowered clusters, borne on 7-15 mm long pedicels (up to 25 mm in fruit), whitish.
• Fruit globose or ellipsoid, 2-3.5 cm long, glabrous.

P. maingayi is common in lowland forest up to 400 m, sometimes up to 1100 m. The timber has a density of 570-850 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content, is easy to saw, smooth to finish and the nailing and boring properties are rated as good. It is moderately durable, but has great durability when treated with appropriate preservatives. The gutta-percha contains about 50% resin. See also the table on wood properties.

Selected sources

36, 102, 190, 318, 419, 581, 743, 779, 792.

Main genus page

• Palaquium (Timbers)

Authors

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