Hopea sangal (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Hopea sangal Korth.

Protologue: Temminck, Verh. Natuurl. Gesch. Ned. Overz. Bez., Botanie, Kruidk.: 75 (1841).

Synonyms

• Hopea sericea (Korth.) Blume (1852),
• Hopea curtisii King (1893),
• Hopea globosa Brandis (1895),
• Hopea lowii Dyer ex Brandis (1895).

Vernacular names

• Brunei: gagil (Malay), selima (Iban)
• Indonesia: cengal (general), merawan jankar (Kalimantan), merawan telor (Sumatra)
• Malaysia: mersiput, chengal mata kucing (Peninsular), gagil (Sabah, Sarawak)
• Thailand: kalo samo, takhian-kaeo.

Distribution

Peninsular Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, West Java, the Lesser Sunda Islands and Borneo.

Uses

H. sangal is an important source of merawan timber. An inferior quality dammar is collected for illumination. The bark is locally added to palm wine to prevent acidification.

Observations

• A medium-sized to large tree of up to 50 m tall, bole often of good shape, with a diameter of up to 180 cm, with opaque white resin exudate and prominent buttresses, bark surface flaky, shallowly fissured, blackish, cork cambium orange-brown, inner bark cream, changing to dull greenish cambium, sapwood yellow-brown, heartwood pale coffee-brown; young parts and midrib above more or less sparsely pale grey-brown pubescent.
• Leaves ovate, 5.5-10 cm × 3.5-5 cm, thin, base broadly cuneate, acumen slender, up to 1.2 cm long, venation scalariform, midrib applanate above, secondary veins 10-12 pairs, slender, prominent beneath, slightly curved, ascending at 50-60°.
• Stamens 10, anthers oblong, ovary and stylopodium short, broadly cylindrical, truncate, puberulent at apex, style two-thirds the length of the ovary and stylopodium, filiform.
• 2 longer fruit calyx lobes up to 7 cm × 1.5 cm, tapering to base, 3 shorter ones up to 7 mm × 4 mm.

H. sangal is locally common but scattered on clay-rich soils on river banks or hillsides up to 500 m altitude. The density of the wood is 510-890 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content. See also the table on wood properties.

Selected sources

10, 30, 75, 89, 100, 258, 318, 324, 359, 462, 476, 514, 677, 748.

Main genus page

• Hopea (merawan)

Authors

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