Shorea polysperma (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Shorea polysperma (Blanco) Merr.

Protologue: Publ. Govt. Lab. Philipp. 27: 22 (1905).

Synonyms

• Dipterocarpus polyspermus (Blanco) Blanco (1845),
• Shorea warburgii Gilg (1894),
• Shorea teysmanniana Foxw. non Dyer ex Brandis.

Vernacular names

• Dark red Philippine mahogany (En)
• Philippines: tangile (general), balagayan (Mangyan), malagiso (Tagalog).

Distribution

Throughout the Philippines.

Uses

The wood is the most important red meranti timber of the Philippines and is especially used for furniture.

Observations

• A large tree up to 50 m tall with bole branchless for 20-30 m and up to 200 cm in diameter, buttresses prominent.
• Leaves elliptical, thinly leathery, 7.5-15 cm × 2.5-6.5 cm, with 9-12 pairs of secondary veins, lower surface glabrous.
• Stamens 15, anthers subglobose with long, slender appendages, stylopodium indistinct.
• Larger fruit calyx lobes up to 9 cm × 1.8 cm.

S. polysperma commonly occurs in hilly country in evergreen mixed dipterocarp forest up to 1500 m altitude. The density of the wood is 395-815 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content. See also the table on wood properties.

Selected sources

175, 258, 579, 674, 748.

Main genus page

• Shorea (red meranti)

Authors

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