Hopea nutans (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Hopea nutans Ridley

Protologue: Fl. Mal. Pen. 1: 235 (1922).

Vernacular names

• Brunei: garang buaya daun kechil
• Malaysia: giam, chengal batu (Peninsular), giam betul (Sabah, Sarawak).

Distribution

Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo.

Uses

The timber is used as high-grade giam, notably for keels and external planking for boats, long piles (sapwood treated), floors and heavy construction. An opaque, yellow resin can be tapped from the tree.

Observations

• A medium-sized tree of up to 30 m tall, bole often gnarled and comparatively short, with a diameter of up to 70 cm and short buttresses, bark surface shaggily scaly, dark brown, inner bark yellow, sapwood yellowish, heartwood yellow when fresh, deep tan or red-brown on exposure; young parts very shortly sparsely pale brown pubescent.
• Leaves broadly ovate, 8-13 cm × 4.5-8.5 cm, leathery, greyish lepidote below in mature trees, base obtuse, acumen up to 1 cm long, margin frequently revolute, venation scalariform, midrib slightly raised above, secondary veins 7-10 pairs, curved at 50-60°, distinct.
• Stamens 15, in 3 subequal whorls, ovary and stylopodium subcylindrical, glabrescent, style short.
• 2 longer fruit calyx lobes up to 8 cm × 1.5 cm, oblong, thinly leathery, obtuse, 3 shorter ones up to 10 mm long, acute.

H. nutans occurs on sandy soils, often periodically inundated, near and on coastal hills. The density of the wood is 875-1205 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content. See also the table on wood properties.

Selected sources

30, 89, 100, 102, 258, 297, 359, 417, 476, 514, 677, 748.

Main genus page

• Hopea (giam)

Authors

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