Shorea exelliptica (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Shorea exelliptica Meijer

Protologue: Acta Bot. Neerl. 12: 323, pl. 1 (1963).

Vernacular names

• Brunei: selangan batu tembaga
• Malaysia: balau tembaga (Peninsular), selangan tembaga (Sarawak), selangan batu tembaga (Sabah).

Distribution

Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo.

Uses

The timber is used as balau.

Observations

• A medium-sized to very large tree up to 60 m tall, bole up to 95 cm in diameter, buttresses up to 1.5 m high, crown characteristically coppery.
• Leaves oblong to broadly ovate, 9-15 cm × 3.5-7 cm, with 12-18 pairs of secondary veins prominent and purplish-brown scabrid tomentose beneath, lower surface golden to silver lepidote.
• Petals narrow, stamens 30-40.
• Fruit calyx lobes unequal, three larger ones up to 8 cm × 2.4 cm.

S. exelliptica is fairly common on leached clay soils on undulating land, ridges and plateaux up to 600 m altitude. The density of the wood is 865-1045 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content.

Selected sources

30, 89, 100, 258, 677, 748.

Main genus page

• Shorea (balau)

Authors

• M.S.M. Sosef (selection of species)