Shorea macroptera (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Shorea macroptera Dyer

Protologue: Fl. Brit. India 1: 308 (1874).

Synonyms

• Shorea bailloni Heim (1891),
• Shorea sandakanensis Sym. (1938).

Vernacular names

• Brunei: meranti melantai
• Indonesia: meranti kuning (eastern Sumatra), lukup (Riau Archipelago), sepit udang (northern Kalimantan), tengerangan sibu (East Kalimantan)
• Malaysia: meranti melantai (Peninsular, Sarawak), seraya melantai (Sabah)
• Thailand: chanhoi (peninsular).

Distribution

Peninsular Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, eastern Sumatra and Borneo.

Uses

The timber is a valuable source of light red meranti and is sometimes traded separately as "melantai". A resin called "damar batu" or "damar daging" has been collected but is of little value. The bark is favoured locally for walls, floors and roofs.

Observations

• A medium-sized to very large tree up to 60 m tall with bole branchless for 18-27 m and up to 135 cm in diameter, buttresses up to 2.5 m high.
• Leaves narrowly elliptical to oblong, 8-19 cm × 3-7(-9.5) cm, with 10-15 pairs of secondary veins, lower surface shiny.
• Stamens 15, anthers broadly oblong, with short appendages, stylopodium conical.
• Larger fruit calyx lobes up to 12 cm × 2.3 cm, with 2 auricles.

S. macroptera is a very variable species with 4 subspecies and occurs on well-drained clay soils on undulating land and hillsides up to 900 m altitude. The density of the wood is 370-770 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content. See also the table on wood properties.

Selected sources

30, 89, 100, 102, 125, 253, 258, 318, 357, 476, 514, 628, 677, 716, 748.

Main genus page

• Shorea (red meranti)

Authors

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