Shorea almon (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Shorea almon Foxw.

Protologue: Philipp. Journ. Sc. 67: 313 (1938).

Synonyms

• Shorea eximia Foxw. non (Miq.) R. Scheffer.

Vernacular names

• Brunei: meranti buaya bukit
• Malaysia: seraya buaya bukit, seraya kerukup (Sabah), meranti buaya bukit (Sarawak)
• Philippines: almon (general), danlig-mayapis (Tagalog), malasinoro (Bikol, Samar-Leyte Bisaya).

Distribution

North-eastern Borneo and non-seasonal areas of the Philippines.

Uses

The timber is used as red meranti and is in great demand for plywood. In the Philippines it is sometimes traded separately as almon timber. It is reported that wood extractives are tumour-inhibiting.

Observations

• A large or very large tree, up to 70 m tall with bole branchless for 20-30 m and up to 160(-200) cm in diameter, buttresses prominent.
• Leaves concave, 9-16 cm × 3.5-7 cm, with 17-20 pairs of secondary veins, lower surface scabrid tomentose.
• Stamens 15, anthers subglobose with long appendages, ovary without a stylopodium.
• Larger fruit calyx lobes up to 14 cm × 2.5 cm.

S. almon occurs on clay soil on hills in mixed dipterocarp forest generally at low altitudes. The density of the wood is 400-580 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content.

Selected sources

31, 89, 100, 175, 258, 476, 579, 674, 748.

Main genus page

• Shorea (red meranti)

Authors

M.S.M. Sosef (selection of species)