Madhuca penicillata (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Madhuca penicillata (King & Gamble) H.J. Lam

Protologue: Bull. Jard. Bot. Buitenzorg, sér. 3, 7: 166 (1925).

Synonyms

• Bassia penicillata King & Gamble (1905).

Distribution

Peninsular Malaysia.

Uses

The timber is used as nyatoh.

Observations

• A medium-sized to fairly large tree up to 35 m tall with columnar bole up to 60 cm in diameter and small buttresses.
• Leaves evenly distributed or more or less clustered at tips of twigs, elliptical or narrowly elliptical to obovate or narrowly obovate, 7.5-30 cm × 4-9.5 cm, secondary veins diminishing until inconspicuous near margin, finely yellowish-brown hairy beneath, stipules up to 2 mm long, caducous.
• Flowers with sepals puberulous outside and glabrous inside and tufted with some dark hairs at apex, 8-13-lobed corolla glabrous but woolly between the stamens, 20-25 stamens and hairy ovary.
• Fruit globose to ovoid, c. 2.5 cm × 2 cm, finely hairy, 1-seeded.
• Seed with thin endosperm and thick cotyledons.

M. penicillata has often been confused with M. sericea, from which it differs in larger flowers and more reticulate tertiary venation. It grows scattered in lowlands and on hills up to 350 m. The density of the wood is about 760 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content.

Selected sources

102, 581, 733, 779, 792.

Main genus page

• Madhuca (Timbers)

Authors

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