112

5(2):Timber trees; Minor commercial timbers

Ailanthus triphysa (Dennst.) Alston

This article should be read together with the article on the genus: Ailanthus in the Handbook volume indicated above in this database.

Handb. Fl. Ceylon 4, Suppl.: 41 (1931).

Ailanthus malabarica DC. (1825), Ailanthus imberbiflora F. v. Mueller (1862), Ailanthus philippinensis Merr. (1906).

Indonesia: kayu langit (general), ki pahit, selangke (Java), kirontasi (Sulawesi). Philippines: malakamias (general), kalauag (Bikol). Burma (Myanmar): o-dein. Thailand: makkom (Chiang Mai), mayom-pa (central), mayom-hom (south-eastern). Vietnam: b[us]t, c[af]ng hom th[ow]m.

India, Sri Lanka, Burma (Myanmar), Indo-China, southern China, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Java, Borneo (Sabah, East Kalimantan), Sulawesi, the Philippines, and northern Australia (Queensland and northern New South Wales). It is planted in the arid zones of Africa.

The wood is used as white siris. The resin is used medicinally in India and as incense in India and Indo-China. The bark and leaves are renowned as a tonic, especially in debility after childbirth, possess febrifuge properties and are useful in dyspeptic complaints. In Vietnam, the leaves are used to dye silk black.

A large tree up to 45 m tall, bole up to 75(-150) cm in diameter, bark surface greenish-brown with grey patches, dippled; leaves with 6-17(-30) entire leaflets of (5-)9-15(-26) cm long, covered with velvety hairs below and with many glands scattered over the lower surface; petals glabrous, carpels (2-)3(-4); fruit 4.5-8 cm long. Ailanthus triphysa is comparatively rare and occurs in evergreen and seasonal forests up to 600 m altitude. The density of the wood is about 435 kg/m³ at 12% moisture content. See also the table on wood properties.

Flora Malesiana (various editors), 1950-. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Boston, London.
Hewson, H.J., 1985. Simaroubaceaea. Flora of Australia. Vol. 25, Melianthaceae to Simaroubaceae. Australian Government Printing Service, Canberra. pp. 188-197.
Kingston, R.S.T. & Risdon, C.J.E., 1961. Shrinkage and density of Australian and other South-West Pacific woods. Technological Paper No 13. Division of Forest Products, CSIRO, Melbourne. 65 pp.
Merrill, E.D., 1923-1926. An enumeration of Philippine flowering plants. 4 volumes. Bureau of Printing, Manila.
Rai, S.N., 1985. Notes on nursery and regeneration technique of some species occuring in southern tropical wet evergreen and semi-evergreen forests of Karnataka (India) part II. Indian Forester 111(8): 645-657.
Reyes, L.J., 1938. Philippine woods. Technical Bulletin No 7. Commonwealth of the Philppines, Department of Agriculture and Commerce. Bureau of Printing, Manila. 536 pp. + 88 plates.
Smitinand, T., 1980. Thai plant names. Royal Forest Department, Bangkok. 379 pp.
Smitinand, T. & Larsen, K. (Editors), 1970-. Flora of Thailand. The Forest Herbarium, Royal Forest Department, Bangkok.
Troup, R.S., 1921. Silviculture of Indian trees. 3 volumes. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Whitmore, T.C. & Ng, F.S.P. (Editors), 1972-1989. Tree flora of Malaya. A manual for foresters. 2nd edition. 4 volumes. Malayan Forest Records No 26. Longman Malaysia SDN. Berhad, Kuala Lumpur & Petaling Jaya.

M.S.M. Sosef

Sosef, M.S.M., 1995. Ailanthus triphysa (Dennst.) Alston. In: Lemmens, R.H.M.J., Soerianegara, I. and Wong, W.C. (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 5(2):Timber trees; Minor commercial timbers. PROSEA Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. Database record: prota4u.org/prosea