Hopea cernua (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Hopea cernua Teijsm. & Binnend.

Protologue: Natuurk. Tijdschr. Ned. Ind. 29: 252 (1867).

Synonyms

• Hopea argentea Meijer (1963).

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: temang jankar, damar putih, (Kalimantan)
• Malaysia: selangan urat (Sabah), mang besi, luis timbul (Sarawak).

Distribution

Bangka, northern and eastern Borneo and possibly Sumatra.

Uses

The timber is a comparatively heavy merawan.

Observations

• A medium-sized to large tree of up to 50 m tall, bole with a diameter of up to 125 cm, buttresses up to 4 m tall, frequently branched, with small stilt roots and flying buttresses, outer bark dark chocolate brown, pale within, inner bark pale brown, sapwood pale yellow, heartwood chocolate brown, hard; young parts caducous grey-brown pubescent.
• Leaves elliptical to ovate, 5-15 cm × 2-5 cm, thin leathery, base cuneate, equal, acumen up to 6 mm long, more or less distinctly silvery lepidote beneath, venation dryobalanoid, midrib slightly raised above, secondary veins 10-12 pairs, slender but distinctly elevated and prominent beneath.
• Stamens 15-18, in 3 unequal verticils, ovary ovoid, glabrous, style about 1.5 times the length of ovary, sometimes slightly swollen in the villous basal third.
• 2 longer fruit calyx lobes up to 6.5 cm × 1.2 cm, 3 shorter ones up to 1.5 cm long, lanceolate, acute.

H. cernua occurs locally in mixed dipterocarp forest on fertile soils, especially on neutral and basic igneous rocks and limestone, up to 1650 m altitude. The density of the wood is 650-960 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content.

Selected sources

31, 100, 258, 476, 557, 748.

Main genus page

• Hopea (merawan)

Authors

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