Pinus kesiya (PROSEA)
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Introduction |
Pinus kesiya Royle ex Gordon
- Protologue: Loudon, Gard. Mag. 16: 8 (1840).
Synonyms
- Pinus insularis Endl. (1847),
- Pinus khasya Hook.f. (1888).
Vernacular names
- Benguet pine, Khasya pine (En).
- Pin à trois feuilles (Fr)
- Philippines: saleng (general), tapulao (Zambales)
- Burma: tinyu
- Laos: khoua, mai hing
- Thailand: son-sambai (central), chuang, kai-plueak-daeng (northern)
- Vietnam: thông ba lá, xà nu.
Distribution
Eastern India, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, southern China, northern Thailand and the Philippines (northern Luzon); planted throughout the tropics, in South-East Asia in Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea.
Uses
Benguet pine is a general purpose timber. It is also used for the manufacture of particle board and pulp, but its usefulness depends on the quality of the wood. Oleoresin of good quality is tapped from the trees.
Observations
- A large tree up to 45 m tall with a bole free of branches for 15-20 m and up to 100 cm in diameter, a thick, reticulately and deeply fissured bark, and often pruinose branchlets with a waxy bloom.
- Needles in bundles of (2-)3(-4), very slender and flexible, (10-)12-21(-25) cm long, bright grass green.
- Mature cones up to 3 together, pendulous, ovoid to ovoid-conical, (4-)5-8(-10) cm long, subsessile or on a short stalk up to 10 mm long; apophysis beaked or flattened with a short, blunt, deciduous umbo.
- Seed small with a short, 1.5-2.5 cm long wing.
The union of P. khasya and P. insularis into P. kesiya has been argued, because of their different field characteristics and products, and some authors contend that P. kesiya has not been properly described. Benguet pine is locally common in northern Luzon, often occurring in open pure stands on steep slopes at elevations of 300-2700 m. See also the table on wood properties.
Selected sources
28, 153, 157, 163, 178, 224, 225, 295, 359, 417, 488, 517, 534, 548, 579, 748, 764.
Main genus page
Authors
- M.S.M. Sosef (selection of species)
