Streblus dimepate (PROTA)

Plant Resources of Tropical Africa Introduction

List of species

General importance
Geographic coverage Africa
Geographic coverage World
Fruit
Medicinal
Timber
Fuel
Ornamental

File:Map Streblus dimepate.gif

distribution in Africa (wild)

1, twig with male inflorescences; 2, part of female inflorescence; 3, twig with infructescences. Redrawn and adapted by Achmad Satiri Nurhaman

bole

slash

wood

Streblus dimepate (Bureau) C.C.Berg

Protologue: Proc. Kon. Ned. Akad. Wetensch., C, 91(4): 358 (1988).

Family: Moraceae

Synonyms

• Pachytrophe dimepate Bureau (1873),
• Pachytrophe obovata Bureau (1873).

Origin and geographic distribution

Streblus dimepate is endemic to Madagascar, where it is confined to the eastern and north-western part of the country.

Uses

The wood (trade name: dipaty) is used for posts in house construction because of its high durability in contact with the soil, and it has been used for railway sleepers. It is not much used for other purposes because it is difficult to work. However, it is suitable for heavy construction (including bridges and sluice gates), heavy flooring, carpentry, vehicle bodies, carving, turnery and sliced veneer. The wood is also used as fuelwood and for the production of charcoal. The infructescence is edible. In traditional medicine an infusion of the bark and leaf is drunk against jaundice.

Properties

The heartwood is brown, strongly darkening on exposure, and clearly demarcated from the greyish beige sapwood. The grain is straight, sometimes wavy, texture very fine. The wood is nicely figured with black veins.

The wood is heavy, with a density of 800–990 kg/m³ at 12% moisture content. It air dries slowly with a slight risk of distortion. Boards 2.5 cm thick take 3–4 months to dry. The rates of shrinkage from green to oven dry are 3.5–6.4% radial and 6.3–11.5% tangential. The dried wood is not stable in service.

The wood is very hard. At 12% moisture content, the modulus of rupture is 169–236 N/mm², modulus of elasticity 15,000–20,000 N/mm², compression parallel to grain 61–94 N/mm², shear 7 N/mm², cleavage 11–17 N/mm and Chalais-Meudon side hardness 5.3–12.7. Due to its hardness, the wood is difficult to work. It usually takes a good polish and finishes well. It glues easily, but nailing is very difficult and pre-boring is recommended. The wood is very durable, being very resistant to fungal attacks and having good resistance against termites. The heartwood is resistant to impregnation with preservatives, the sapwood is permeable.

Description

• Dioecious, evergreen or deciduous shrub or small to medium-sized tree up to 30 m tall, with white latex; branchlets glabrescent.
• Leaves alternate, distichous, simple and entire; stipules fused, 2–6(–9) mm long, sparsely to densely hairy; petiole 3–15(–20) mm long; blade elliptical to oblong or obovate, (1–)2–10(–16) cm × (0.5–)1.5–6 cm, base acute to obtuse, apex acuminate or obtuse, margin often somewhat revolute, leathery, glabrous, pinnately veined with 5–12(–16) pairs of lateral veins.
• Inflorescence a catkin, usually in pairs in leaf axils; male inflorescence 0.5–5 cm long including the 1–5 mm long peduncle, many-flowered; female inflorescence 0.5–2.5 cm long including the 2–15 mm long peduncle, 2–14-flowered.
• Flowers unisexual, sessile, close together, perianth 1.5–2 mm long; male flowers with 4-parted perianth, membranous, hairy, stamens 4, inflexed, ovary rudimentary, quadrangular, c. 5 mm long; female flowers with 4 free tepals, fairly thick, glabrous to hairy, ovary superior, globose to ovoid, style very short, stigmas 2.
• Fruit a 1-seeded drupe 5–8 mm × 6–7 mm, with enlarged, succulent, reddish perianth.
• Seed 4–5 mm long.

Other botanical information

Streblus comprises about 20 species, and occurs in Africa, Asia and the Pacific region.

Anatomy

Wood-anatomical description (IAWA hardwood codes):

• Growth rings: 2: growth ring boundaries indistinct or absent.
• Vessels: 5: wood diffuse-porous; 13: simple perforation plates; 22: intervessel pits alternate; 23?: shape of alternate pits polygonal; 26: intervessel pits medium (7–10 μm); 30: vessel-ray pits with distinct borders; similar to intervessel pits in size and shape throughout the ray cell; 31: vessel-ray pits with much reduced borders to apparently simple: pits rounded or angular; 32: vessel-ray pits with much reduced borders to apparently simple: pits horizontal (scalariform, gash-like) to vertical (palisade); 42: mean tangential diameter of vessel lumina 100–200 μm; 46: ≤ 5 vessels per square millimetre; (47: 5–20 vessels per square millimetre); 56: tyloses common.
• Tracheids and fibres: 61: fibres with simple to minutely bordered pits; 66: non-septate fibres present; 69: fibres thin- to thick-walled.
• Axial parenchyma: 85: axial parenchyma bands more than three cells wide; (89: axial parenchyma in marginal or in seemingly marginal bands); 93: eight (5–8) cells per parenchyma strand.
• Rays: 98: larger rays commonly 4- to 10-seriate; (103: rays of two distinct sizes); 107: body ray cells procumbent with mostly 2–4 rows of upright and/or square marginal cells; (108: body ray cells procumbent with over 4 rows of upright and/or square marginal cells); 114: ≤ 4 rays per mm; 115: 4–12 rays per mm.
• Mineral inclusions: 136: prismatic crystals present; 137: prismatic crystals in upright and/or square ray cells; 141: prismatic crystals in non-chambered axial parenchyma cells.

(H. Beeckman & P. Détienne)

Growth and development

Flowering is probably year-round, with a peak in September–March.

Ecology

Streblus dimepate occurs up to 1000 m altitude in dry to humid forest or thickets, often along streams or seashores.

Management

The wood of Streblus dimepate seems to be obtained from wild trees only, and no information is available on silvicultural management or planting techniques.

Genetic resources

Streblus dimepate is confined to Madagascar, but it is unclear whether it is threatened by genetic erosion.

Prospects

The wood of Streblus dimepate is beautiful and very durable, but difficult to work. At present it seems only to be used for construction, but it may have potential for parquetry, carving and turnery. As such, it may have export value, but it is difficult to assess its potential, because too little information is available on the availability of wild trees and the species’ potential for domestication.

Major references

• Berg, C.C., 1977. Revisions of African Moraceae (excluding Dorstenia, Ficus, Musanga and Myrianthus). Bulletin du Jardin Botanique National de Belgique 47(3–4): 267–407.

• Berg, C.C., 1988. The genera Trophis and Streblus (Moraceae) remodeled. Proceedings of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, Series C, Biological and Medical Sciences 91(4): 345–362.

• Guéneau, P., Bedel, J. & Thiel, J., 1970–1975. Bois et essences malgaches. Centre Technique Forestier Tropical, Nogent-sur-Marne, France. 150 pp.

• Sallenave, P., 1971. Propriétés physiques et mecaniques des bois tropicaux. Deuxième supplément. Centre Technique Forestier Tropical, Nogent-sur-Marne, France. 128 pp.

Other references

• Guéneau, P. & Guéneau, D., 1969. Propriétés physiques et mécaniques des bois malgaches. Cahiers scientifiques No 2, Centre Technique Forestier Tropical, Nogent-sur-Marne, France. 51 pp.

• InsideWood, undated. [Internet] http://insidewood.lib.ncsu.edu/search/. May 2007.

• Novy, J.W., 1997. Medicinal plants of the eastern region of Madagascar. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 55: 119–126.

• Perrier de la Bâthie, H. & Leandri, J., 1952. Moracées (Moraceae). Flore de Madagascar et des Comores (plantes vasculaires), famille 55. Firmin-Didot et cie., Paris, France. 76 pp.

• Schatz, G.E., 2001. Generic tree flora of Madagascar. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, United Kingdom. 477 pp.

Sources of illustration

• Perrier de la Bâthie, H. & Leandri, J., 1952. Moracées (Moraceae). Flore de Madagascar et des Comores (plantes vasculaires), famille 55. Firmin-Didot et cie., Paris, France. 76 pp.

Author(s)

• M. Brink, PROTA Network Office Europe, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 341, 6700 AH Wageningen, Netherlands

Correct citation of this article

Brink, M., 2008. Streblus dimepate (Bureau) C.C.Berg. In: Louppe, D., Oteng-Amoako, A.A. & Brink, M. (Editors). PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa / Ressources végétales de l’Afrique tropicale), Wageningen, Netherlands. Accessed 23 April 2026.

• See the Prota4U database.