Hopea bracteata (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Hopea bracteata Burck

Protologue: Ann. Jard. Bot. Buitenzorg 6: 239 (1887).

Synonyms

• Balanocarpus curtisii King (1893),
• Balanocarpus bracteatus (Burck) Merr. (1921),
• Hopea minima Sym. (1939).

Vernacular names

• Brunei: merawan padi
• Indonesia: merawan mas (general), bangkirai amas (South Kalimantan), nyerakat (East Kalimantan)
• Malaysia: merawan ungu, damar mata kucing, tempunai (Peninsular).

Distribution

Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo (Sarawak, Brunei, Sabah, south-eastern Kalimantan).

Uses

The timber is used as merawan and is suitable for door and window frames, particle board and, when treated, railway sleepers. A dark resin can be obtained from the tree.

Observations

• Small, occasionally medium-sized tree of up to 30 m tall, bole straight, cylindrical, frequently hollow, occasionally with smears of dammar, with a diameter of up to 90 cm and prominent stilt roots or thin buttresses of up to 70 cm tall, bark surface, dark brown and grey mottled, hoop-marked, inner bark pale yellow-brown, sapwood cream gradually changing to pale brown, heartwood soft; young parts shortly persistently puberulent.
• Leaves narrowly ovate, 2.5-6 cm × 0.7-2 cm, thin, base cuneate, acumen up to 1.5 cm long, venation subdryobalanoid, midrib depressed above, secondary veins about 11 pairs, slender, with slightly less distinct secondaries in between, strongly curved, at 55-65°.
• Stamens 15, ovary and stylopodium glabrous, cylindrical, truncate, style short.
• Fruit calyx lobes up to 5 mm × 5 mm, subequal, broadly ovate, obtuse, incrassate at base.

H. bracteata is locally abundant on spurs and ridges below 650 m altitude. The density of the wood is 525-945 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content.

Selected sources

30, 102, 253, 258, 321, 359, 476, 677, 748.

Main genus page

• Hopea (merawan)

Authors

• K.M. Kochummen (selection of species),
• F.T. Frietema (selection of species)