Madhuca malaccensis (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Madhuca malaccensis (C.B. Clarke) H.J. Lam

Protologue: Bull. Jard. Bot. Buitenzorg, sér. 3, 7: 167 (1925).

Synonyms

• Bassia malaccensis (C.B. Clarke) King & Gamble (1905).

Vernacular names

• Malaysia: basong, kamayan (Sabah). Singapore: sundek.

Distribution

Southern Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore and Borneo (Sabah); probably also Sumatra and Bangka.

Uses

The timber is probably used as nyatoh.

Observations

• A medium-sized tree up to 25 m tall, with bole up to 30 cm in diameter.
• Leaves evenly distributed or loosely clustered at tips of twigs, narrowly obovate to obovate or elliptical, 10-54 cm × 5-20 cm, secondary veins diminishing until inconspicuous near margin, glabrous when mature, stipules up to 5 mm long, caducous.
• Flowers with sepals finely hairy outside and glabrous inside, 10-12-lobed corolla sparsely hairy outside and inside but woolly between the stamens, 19-25 stamens and glabrous or hairy pistil.
• Fruit ellipsoid or obovoid, 2-3 cm × 1-2 cm, 1-2-seeded.
• Seed with thin or without endosperm and thick cotyledons.

M. malaccensis is a variable species, often confused with other species (M. korthalsii, M. laurifolia, M. penangiana). It occurs scattered in lowland rain forest, rarely up to 800 m altitude. The density of the wood is about 760 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content.

Selected sources

100, 102, 190, 581, 733, 779, 781.

Main genus page

• Madhuca (Timbers)

Authors

• R.H.M.J. Lemmens (selection of species)