Aphananthe (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Aphananthe Planch.

Protologue: Ann. Sci. Nat. Bot. ser. 3, 10: 265, 337 (1848).

Family: Ulmaceae

Chromosome number: x= unknown; 2n= unknown

Aphananthe consists of about 5 species, and occurs in Mexico, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, India, Burma (Myanmar), Indo-China, China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, the Andaman Islands, Thailand, throughout Malesia (except Peninsular Malaysia and the Moluccas), the Solomon Islands and eastern Australia. Two species occur in Malesia, but exclude each other.

The wood of Aphananthe is used locally in house building, especially for planks and light construction. In Australia the wood of A. philippinensis is also used for flooring, axe handles, sporting goods, gun stocks and blocks.

Supplies are generally very limited and utilization of the wood of Aphananthe is on a local scale only.

Aphananthe yields a medium-weight to heavy hardwood with a density of 510-930 kg/m³at 15% moisture content. Heartwood creamy white or faint grey with a pale brown tinge, sapwood white; grain of A. philippinensis from Philippine stock mainly interlocked, from Australian samples straight; texture fine to medium and even. Growth rings faint; vessels moderately small to medium-sized, in radial multiples of 2-4, indistinct to the naked eye, some tyloses or white deposits; parenchyma predominantly paratracheal vasicentric and aliform to confluent and confluent-banded, apotracheal in mostly regular bands both wider and narrower than the vessels; rays fine, narrower than the vessels, not conspicuous on radial surface; ripple marks absent.

Shrinkage upon air drying is moderate; stock tends to warp and needs careful handling. The wood is moderately hard, of medium strength, tough and resembles hickory ( Carya spp.). The wood splits cleanly but with difficulty, is hard to turn and difficult to finish to a smooth surface; very sharp tools are required to prevent a woolly surface. The wood is slightly durable to non-durable when exposed to the weather or in contact with the ground, and durable for interior use. The sapwood is susceptible to Lyctus .

See also the tables on microscopic wood anatomy and wood properties.

Deciduous or semi-deciduous, monoecious shrubs or small to medium-sized trees up to 30 m tall; bole up to 60 cm in diameter, often with buttresses up to 1 m high and spreading up to 2 m, or bole fluted at base; bark surface smooth or rough to finely fissured, peeling off in rectangular flakes, lenticellate, grey-brown. Leaves alternate, simple, entire, serrate or dentate, pinnately veined or 3-veined at base, petiolate; stipules subulate, caducous. Flowers unisexual, 4-5-merous, with imbricate perianth lobes. Male flowers in an axillary condensed raceme in lower part of new shoots; stamens glabrous; pistil reduced to a cluster of hairs. Female flowers usually solitary near top of new shoots, lacking stamens or staminodes; ovary sessile, superior, 1-locular with a single ovule, with 2 tubular stigmatic arms. Fruit a fleshy, ovoid-globose drupe, red when mature, 1-seeded. Seed with membranous seed-coat, without endosperm.

The trees grow in flushes. They often flower twice a year, in Malesia usually in March-April and September-October. Pollination of the flowers is probably by wind. Fruits ripen in approximately 2-3 months. They are probably eaten by birds which may disperse the seeds.

Aphananthe is usually included in the tribe Celtideae (or subfamily Celtidoideae ) and is related among others to Celtis , which differs particularly in its several-flowered female inflorescences having female flowers with staminodes, and in its broader cotyledons. It is also related to Gironniera , which differs in its overlapping stipules leaving circular scars after falling. Wood anatomy supports the traditional placement of A. cuspidata in Gironniera , and not in Aphananthe .

In Malesia Aphananthe is mainly found in areas subject to a rather strong seasonal climate, in lowland and hill forest up to 750(-1300) m altitude. It is found on a range of soils, is locally abundant and occasionally forms dense thickets. In Thailand A. cuspidata occurs in evergreen or semi-deciduous forest along streams. A. philippinensis is often found in semi-deciduous gallery forest and mixed Eucalyptus forest. In the Philippines it grows in thickets and secondary growth.

Silviculture Aphananthe shows pioneer characteristics and is reportedly fast-growing.

The Malesian Aphananthe species do not seem to be endangered because they are widespread and locally common. Moreover, they are usually found in forest types which are not very vulnerable. In several regions, however, Aphananthe is rare and may easily be liable to genetic erosion, e.g. A. cuspidata in Borneo, the Philippines and Sulawesi.

The present utilization of Aphananthe is very limited. It is unlikely that there will be a change in the near future.

70, 163, 261, 304, 341, 383, 436, 464, 536, 568, 861, 934, 1037, 1271.