Gymnostoma rumphianum (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Gymnostoma rumphianum (Miq.) L.A.S. Johnson

Family: Casuarinaceae

Synonyms

• Casuarina nodiflora Thunberg,
• Casuarina rumphiana Miquel.

Vernacular names

• Weeping ru (En)
• Indonesia: ila (Weda, Halmahera), pohon kasawari, pohon kasuwari (Moluccas)
• Philippines: mountain agoho (En), agoho del monte (Sp).

Distribution

Indonesia (Sulawesi and the Moluccas) and the Philippines.

Uses

A useful firewood and nitrogen fixer with potential for intercropping. It yields good quality charcoal. The wood can be used for house construction (beams, posts, etc.) and light construction work, and yields a good quality pulp. It is a potential ornamental.

Observations

• Monoecious tree, up to 20 m tall. Twigs needle-like, dark greyish-green, hanging in tassels from larger branches.
• Leaves reduced to tiny scales.
• Flowers small, arranged in a lax 1--1.5 cm long terminal spike.
• Fruit a compound globose cone-like structure of 3 cm in diameter.

G. rumphianum usually occurs gregariously in primary forest, at 100-1000 m altitude, forming almost pure stands along sandy sea shores in the Philippines. It grows more vigorously at higher elevations.

Selected sources

• Bawagan, B.O. & Faulmino, A.A., 1978. Qualities of agoho del monte dissolving pulp. Forpride Digest 7(1): 12-17.
• Duke, J.A., 1981. Handbook of legumes of world economic importance. Plenum Press, New York, United States. 345 pp.
• Heyne, K., 1950. De nuttige planten van Indonesië [The useful plants of Indonesia]. 3rd Edition. 2 volumes. W. van Hoeve, the Hague, the Netherlands/Bandung, Indonesia. 261, 1450 pp.
• National Academy of Sciences, 1980, 1983. Firewood crops: Shrub and tree species for energy production. 2 volumes. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., United States. 237, 92 pp.
• Reyes, L.J., 1938. Philippine woods. Technical Bulletin No 7. Commonwealth of the Philippines, Department of Agriculture and Commerce. Bureau of Printing, Manila, the Philippines. 536 pp. + 88 plates.
• Whitmore, T.C. & Ng, F.S.P. (Editors), 1972-1989. Tree flora of Malaya: a manual for foresters. 4 volumes. 2nd Edition. Longman Malaysia Sendirian Berhad, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Authors

• M.S.M. Sosef & L.J.G. van der Maesen