Castanopsis lucida (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Castanopsis lucida (Nees) Soepadmo

Protologue: Reinwardtia 7: 394 (1968).

Synonyms

• Alseodaphne lucida Nees (1831),
• Castanopsis hullettii King ex Hook.f. (1888).

Vernacular names

• Malaysia: berangan papan, berangan babi, kertak tangga (Peninsular).

Distribution

Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore and Borneo (south-western and north-eastern Kalimantan).

Uses

The wood is used as berangan. The nuts are edible. The bark yields tannin.

Observations

• A medium-sized to fairly large tree up to 35 m tall, bole up to 60 cm in diameter, buttresses absent or up to 1.6 m high, bark surface fissured, pale brown, inner bark soft fibro-granular, khaki-brown.
• Leaves (10-)16-30 cm × (3.5-)8-10 cm, with 14-20 pairs of secondary veins, with a dense, brownish, scale-like tomentum below.
• Cupule 3.5-4 cm in diameter, enclosing the 2-4 fruits of which often only 2 are well developed, glabrous, covered with 3-4 prominent ridges bearing sharp short spines, fruit with the smaller part adnate to the cupule.

C. lucida is found in forest below 1200 m altitude. The density of the wood is about 660 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content.

Selected sources

78, 81, 140, 162, 705. timbers

• See also Castanopsis (PROSEA Fruits) for the Fruit use.