Ardisia (PROSEA Timbers)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Ardisia Sw.

Protologue: Prodr.: 3, 48 (1788).

Family: Myrsinaceae

Chromosome number: x= 23;A. crenata(Sims) Little,A. solanaceaRoxb.: 2n= 46

• Indonesia: lampeni (Sundanese), lempeni (Javanese)
• Malaysia: mata ayam, mata itek, mata pelandok (Peninsular)
• Philippines: tagpo, tagpong (Filipino).

Ardisia comprises almost 400 species and shows a pantropical distribution. It occurs throughout South-East Asia with western Malesia as the main centre of diversity. Peninsular Malaysia has some 75 species, Borneo 92, New Guinea 31.

The wood of Ardisia is occasionally used for posts in local house building.

Ardisia wood is used rarely and on a local scale only.

Ardisia yields a medium-weight hardwood with a density of about 510 kg/m³at 15% moisture content. Heartwood yellow-brown, brown or grey-purple-brown, not clearly differentiated from the sapwood; grain straight; texture moderately fine and uneven; wood with silver grain on radial surface and darker-coloured striations on tangential surface due to the broad and high rays. Growth rings indistinct; vessels moderately small to medium-sized, solitary, in radial multiples of 2-4 or in small clusters, sometimes arranged obliquely, angular in outline, open or with white or yellow deposits; parenchyma sparse, paratracheal vasicentric, rarely visible with a hand lens; rays moderately broad to very broad, widely spaced, conspicuous on all surfaces; ripple marks absent.

See also the table on microscopic wood anatomy.

Shrubs or small, rarely medium-sized trees up to 12(-35) m tall; bole up to 30(-50) cm in diameter, rarely with buttresses up to 3 m high ( A. copelandii ); bark surface smooth, grey to brown. Branches often flattened-triangular at base. Leaves alternate or sometimes pseudo-whorled, simple, entire to toothed, dotted with glands, sometimes scaly, exstipulate. Flowers in an axillary or terminal raceme, cyme, corymb or umbel, (4-)5-merous; sepals free or basally connate, often dotted with glands; petals free or adherent at base, overlapping to the right; stamens inserted on the petals by very short filaments; ovary superior, 1-locular with few to many ovules in more than 1 row, style single, stigma minute. Fruit a globose, 1-seeded drupe. Seed globose, with hard endosperm. Seedling with epigeal germination; cotyledons emergent, rudimentary or leafy; hypocotyl elongated; leaves arranged spirally, involute.

In Java A. lanceolata has been observed flowering throughout the year.

In recent years many new species have been described in Ardisia . It is subdivided into 17 subgenera. The genera Tetrardisia and Afrardisia from Africa were recently included in Ardisia .

A. lanceolata is found in primary and secondary lowland and hill forest, up to 1200 m altitude.

Silviculture Ardisia can be propagated by seed. A germination test with various non-timber species gave 80-100% germination in 0.5-6 months after sowing.

As the use of Ardisia timber is very limited, genetic erosion due to harvesting seems unlikely.

It is unlikely that Ardisia will be increasingly used for timber. A. lanceolata has potential as an ornamental because of its attractive flowers.

70, 163, 267, 464, 543, 661, 791, 829, 831, 974, 1061, 1063, 1221.