Wikstroemia tenuiramis (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Wikstroemia tenuiramis Miquel

Family: Thymelaeaceae

Synonyms

• Wikstroemia acuminata Merrill,
• W. clementis Merrill.

Vernacular names

• Brunei: injat
• Indonesia: kayu lingau (Sumatra), menameng, tementak tindat (Bangka).

Distribution

Sumatra, Bangka and Borneo.

Uses

The wood is harder than that of agar wood (Aquilaria malaccensis Lamk) and scentless, but when burned it produces a fragrance similar to agar wood. The bark is used to make ropes.

Observations

• Shrub or small tree, up to 10 m tall, with smooth, glabrous, red-brown branches.
• Leaves opposite, glabrous, rather discolorous; petiole about 4 mm long; blade ovate-elliptical to lanceolate, 6-12 cm × 1.5-4.5 cm.
• Inflorescence a dense, 1-5-flowered, axillary raceme, often occurring in several consecutive leaf axils along the branches; peduncle up to 1.5 cm long.
• Flowers subsessile, tubular, yellow-cream, 4-merous; flower tube (hypanthium) 10-13 mm long, ending in 4 ovate-oblong lobes 2-3 mm long; petaloid appendages absent; stamens 8, in 2 whorls of 4; pistil with an oblongoid ovary, a subsessile style and a capitate stigma.
• Fruit an ovoid drupe, 8 mm × 5 mm, yellow-green or orange.

W. tenuiramis occurs in forest, swampy land and in hills, from sea-level up to 1600 m altitude.

Selected sources

• Burkill, I.H., 1935. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. 2 volumes. Crown Agents for the Colonies, London, United Kingdom. 2402 pp. (slightly revised reprint, 1966. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2444 pp.).
• Heyne, K., 1927. De nuttige planten van Nederlandsch Indië [The useful plants of the Dutch East Indies]. 2nd edition. 3 volumes. Departement van Landbouw, Nijverheid en Handel in Nederlandsch Indië. 1953 pp. (3rd edition, 1950. W. van Hoeve, 's-Gravenhage/Bandung, the Netherlands/Indonesia. 1660 pp.).
• van Steenis, C.G.G.J. et al. (Editors), 1950- . Flora Malesiana. Series 1. Vol. 1, 4- . Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, the Netherlands.

Authors

P.C.M. Jansen