Scutinanthe (PROSEA)
Introduction |
Scutinanthe Thwaites
- Protologue: Hooker's Journ. Bot. Kew Gard. Misc. 8: 266 (1856).
- Family: Burseraceae
- Chromosome number: x= unknown; 2n= unknown
Vernacular names
- Kedondong (trade name)
- Indonesia: merdondong
- Malaysia: seladah, upi (Sarawak).
Origin and geographic distribution
Scutinanthe comprises 2 species and is found in Sri Lanka, southern Burma (Myanmar), Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo, South-East Sulawesi and New Guinea (Irian Jaya). Both species occur within Malesia.
Uses
In general, "kedondong" is used for general light construction under cover, utility furniture, planking, cladding, shuttering, light duty flooring, pallets and boxes. It is suitable for the production of veneer and plywood and the production of particle board.
The fruit is edible.
Production and international trade
Scutinanthe timber is traded together with that of many other Burseraceae genera as "kedondong", but comprises only a very small part of the total amount traded, and is used mainly on a local scale.
Properties
Scutinanthe yields a medium-weight hardwood with a density of 470-780 kg/m3at 15% moisture content. Heartwood deep red-brown resembling "dark red meranti" ( Shorea ), on radial surface moderately sharply demarcated from the paler up to 5 cm wide sapwood; grain interlocked; texture moderately fine and even; longitudinal surface with speckles caused by the darker-coloured rays; wood with distinctive lustre. Growth rings absent; vessels medium-sized, solitary or in radial multiples of 2-4, with occasional clusters, tyloses sparse; parenchyma very sparse to absent, sometimes scanty paratracheal just visible with a hand lens; rays very fine to moderately fine; ripple marks absent; radial canals not observed.
The wood is soft to only moderately hard. It contains some silica but this will probably not affect the ease of sawing. It should be treated with anti-stain chemicals immediately after sawing. The sapwood is susceptible to Lyctus .
See also the table on microscopic wood anatomy.
Botany
Evergreen, dioecious, small to medium-sized trees up to 35 m tall; bole up to 90 cm in diameter, occasionally with buttresses up to 1(-3) m high; bark surface smooth or occasionally scaly, often hoop-marked, with powdery lenticels, light red, reddish-fawn or pinkish-grey, inner bark raspberry-red, with cream to colourless exudate. Leaves arranged spirally, imparipinnate, exstipulate; leaflets (2-)9-15, opposite, entire. Flowers in an axillary panicle, unisexual, 5-merous, densely pubescent, with a cup-shaped receptacle; sepals and petals free. Male flower with 10 stamens, filaments confluent at base; disk almost entirely adnate to the receptacle. Female flower with a superior, (2-)3-locular ovary with 2 ovules in each cell, style short, stigma lobed. Fruit an ellipsoid to ovoid, yellow drupe with 1(-2) 1-seeded pyrenes and persistent calyx; pericarp fleshy. Seedling with epigeal germination; cotyledons emergent, leafy, entire; hypocotyl elongated; all leaves arranged spirally, simple at first.
In Peninsular Malaysia S. brunnea mainly flowers in August and fruits in September; in Sumatra it fruits in January-February.
Scutinanthe resembles Protium but the latter differs in its saucer-shaped receptacle, its 4-5-locular ovary and the 1-5-seeded fruit.
Ecology
S. brunnea is found scattered in primary, evergreen, non-inundated rain forest, up to 900(-1200) m altitude. S. brevisepala occurs in primary, lowland rain forest, up to 650 m altitude.
Silviculture Scutinanthe can be propagated by seed. Stones of S. brunnea sown still embedded in the pulp gave about 95% germination in 7-20 days.
Genetic resources and breeding
S. brevisepala is a rare species.
Prospects
It is unlikely that Scutinanthe will gain importance as a timber.
Literature
15, 162, 267, 341, 436, 464, 681, 682, 740, 826, 829, 831, 861, 1048, 1221, 1242.