Hopea semicuneata (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Hopea semicuneata Sym.

Protologue: Gard. Bull. Str. Settl. 8: 24, pl. 6 (1934).

Synonyms

• Hopea diversifolia Miq. (1861),
• Hopea multiflora Foxw. (1932) non Brandis,
• Hopea plagata Sym. (1933) non (Blanco) S. Vidal.

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: jangkang putih, kerangan (Sumatra), bubuh (Bangka, Belitung)
• Malaysia: sama rupa chengal, chengal batu (Peninsular), giam kulit merah (Sabah).

Distribution

Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo.

Uses

H. semicuneata is an important source of giam.

Observations

• A medium-sized to large tree of up to 45 m tall, bole frequently fluted or twisted but branchless for up to 27 m, buttresses small or stout and up to 6 m tall, bark surface dark brown, inner bark reddish-ochre or bright salmon pink, sapwood pale greyish-yellow, heartwood reddish-brown; young twigs and petioles fugacious puberulent, vegetative parts otherwise glabrous.
• Leaves elliptical to ovate-lanceolate, 6.5-14 cm × 2-7 cm, papery, base narrowly to broadly cuneate, acumen slender, up to 2.5 cm long, frequently undulate, venation scalariform, midrib slightly depressed to slightly raised above, secondary veins 6-9 pairs, set obliquely at 45-65, depressed above, slender but prominent beneath.
• Stamens 15, in 3 unequal verticils, ovary and stylopodium cylindrical, truncate, sometimes constricted medially, style shortly columnar.
• 2 longer fruit calyx lobes up to 9.5 mm × 2 mm, broadly lorate, obtuse, 3 shorter ones up to 4 mm × 6 mm, broadly ovate, subacute, saccate.

H. semicuneata occurs locally in dipterocarp forest on clay-rich alluvium, undulating land and hillsides below 500 m altitude. The density of the wood is 610-1215 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content.

Selected sources

100, 253, 258, 476, 557, 677, 748.

Main genus page

• Hopea (giam)

Authors

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