Madhuca motleyana (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Madhuca motleyana (de Vriese) J.F. Macbr.

Protologue: Contr. Gray Herb. Harvard Univ., New Ser. 53: 18 (1918).

Synonyms

• Ganua motleyana (de Vriese) Pierre ex Dubard (1908),
• Ganua scortechinii (King & Gamble) H.J. Lam (1925).

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: ketiau, bengku (Sumatra), nyatu bekas (Kalimantan)
• Malaysia: nyatoh ketiau (Peninsular), ketiau (Sarawak, Sabah)
• Thailand: sateeyo (Narathiwat).

Distribution

Peninsular Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, the Riau Archipelago, Belitung and Borneo.

Uses

The timber is used as nyatoh. The latex is sold as an inferior quality of gutta-percha. The fat from the seeds is used in foods.

Observations

• A medium-sized to large tree up to 40 m tall with columnar bole up to 100 cm in diameter, buttresses absent or small and sometimes developing pneumatophores.
• Leaves evenly distributed or loosely clustered at tips of twigs, ovate, obovate or elliptical, 5-20 cm × 2.5-8.5 cm, secondary veins joined in arches near margin, glabrous, stipules very small, caducous.
• Flowers with sepals pubescent outside and tufted with some dark hairs at apex, 8-10-lobed corolla glabrous except for throat, 16-22 stamens and glabrous or hairy ovary.
• Fruit ellipsoid, 1.5-3 cm × 1-2 cm, green, yellowish to reddish, 1-2-seeded; seed with thin or without endosperm and thick cotyledons.

M. motleyana is common in freshwater and peat-swamp forests, generally near sea-level. The wood is yellowish-brown and has a density of 405-690 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content. It is easy to saw, plane and bore. The seeds contain about 50% oil and no or little cyanide. See also the table on wood properties.

Selected sources

36, 89, 100, 102, 190, 315, 318, 581, 699, 728, 779, 781, 792.

Main genus page

• Madhuca (Timbers)

Authors

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