Shorea kunstleri (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Shorea kunstleri King

Protologue: Journ. As. Soc. Beng. 62(2): 116 (1893).

Vernacular names

• Brunei: damar laut merah
• Indonesia: benuas lebar daun (general), empatah tanduk (West Kalimantan), tuyang (East Kalimantan)
• Malaysia: balau laut merah (Peninsular), selangan merah (Sarawak), seraya sirap (Sabah).

Distribution

Peninsular Malaysia, northern Sumatra and Borneo.

Uses

The timber is an important source of good quality red balau or red meranti, depending on the density of the wood.

Observations

• A very large tree up to 60 m tall with bole branchless for 20-34 m and up to 190 cm in diameter, buttresses up to 1.5 m high.
• Leaves broadly ovate, frequently twisted to one side, 8-12 cm × 4.5-7 cm, leathery, with 6-8 pairs of secondary veins hardly raised beneath, usually completely glabrous, petiole geniculate.
• Petals narrowly lanceolate, stamens 15, the appendages more than twice as long as anthers.
• Fruit calyx lobes unequal, larger three up to 8.5 cm × 1.8 cm.

S. kunstleri occurs locally on leached sandy clay soils on flat land, low hills and ridges up to 800 m altitude, sometimes on ultrabasic soils. The density of the wood is often comparatively low, varying from 610-1090 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content. See also the table on wood properties.

Selected sources

30, 89, 100, 102, 196, 253, 258, 297, 417, 444, 677, 748.

Main genus page

• Shorea (balau)

Authors

• M.S.M. Sosef (selection of species)