Mansonia gagei (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Mansonia gagei J.R. Drummond ex Prain

Family: Sterculiaceae

Vernacular names

• Sandalwood (En).
• Burma (Myanmar): kalamet
• Thailand: chan chamot (south-western), chan khaao, chan hom (central).

Distribution

Burma (Myanmar) (Tenasserim) and Thailand.

Uses

The fragrant wood serves as a substitute for sandalwood (Santalum album L.) and Cordia fragrantissima Kurz, e.g. in the funeral pyres of Buddhists and Hindus, as a cosmetic and in other uses where fragrance is demanded. In Thailand it is alo used medicinally.

Observations

• Medium sized tree, trunk diameter up to 70 cm.
• Leaves simple, alternate, chartaceous; petiole up to 1 cm long; blade oblong-ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 8-12 cm × 3-5 cm.
• Inflorescence subterminal, paniculate.
• Flowers bisexual, with spathaceous calyx, 5 petals, 10 stamens, 5 petaloid staminodia and 5 separate carpels.
• Fruiting carpel 3-5 cm long, usually in a pair, indehiscent, bearing a leathery wing of about 2 cm × 1 cm.
• Seed black.

Fresh wood has a pungent and disagreeable odour; the fragrant scent develops in decaying wood in a period of up to 6 years. The wood is brown and very hard. Possibly, M. gagei is also of interest for the Malesian area.

Selected sources

• Burkill, I.H., 1935. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. 2 volumes. Crown Agents for the Colonies, London, United Kingdom. 2402 pp. (slightly revised reprint, 1966. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2444 pp.).
• Metcalfe, C.R., 1933. The structure and botanical identity of some scented woods from the East. Kew Bulletin 1933: 3-15.
• Prain, D., 1905. Mansonieae, a new tribe of the natural order Sterculiaceae. The Journal of the Linnean Society, Botany 37: 250-263.

Authors

P.C.M. Jansen