3040

11: Auxiliary plants

Schleichera oleosa (Lour.) Oken

Allg. Naturgesch. Bot. 2: 1341 (1841).

SAPINDACEAE

2n = 32

Pistacia oleosa Lour. (1790), Schleichera trijuga Willd. (1806), Cussambium oleosum O. Kuntze (1891).

Macassar oil tree, gum-lac tree, Ceylon oak (En). Qennettier-rose, pongro (Fr). Indonesia: kosambi (Javanese), kasambi (Sundanese). Malaysia: kusambi. Cambodia: pongro. Laos: (do:k) phen (Spire). Thailand: machok (northern), takhro (north-eastern). Vietnam: c[oj] ph[ef]n, c[aa]y van rao, pongro.

Schleichera oleosa occurs naturally from the foothills of the Himalayas and the western Deccan to Sri Lanka and Indo-China. It was probably introduced to Malesia and has naturalized in Indonesia (Java, the Lesser Sunda Islands (Bali and Nusa Tenggara), Sulawesi, the Moluccas, Ceram and the Kai Islands). It is occasionally cultivated throughout the tropics, especially in India.

Schleichera oleosa has many important uses. The wood is suitable as firewood and makes excellent charcoal; the pinkish-brown heartwood is very hard and durable, excellent to make pestles, cartwheels, axles, ploughs, tool handles, and rollers of sugar mills and oil presses. Oil extracted from the seed, called 'kusum oil', is a valuable component of true Macassar oil used in hairdressing; it is also used for culinary and lighting purposes and in traditional medicine it is applied to cure itching, acne and other skin afflictions. Unguents are made of the harder fraction of the oil. In Madura and Java the oil is used in the batik industry, and in southern India as a cooling bath oil. The pleasantly acid arillodes of the ripe seeds are eaten, whereas immature fruit is pickled. Cooked young leaves make a side dish. Powdered seeds are applied to wounds and ulcers of cattle to remove maggots. A dye is obtained from the bark. The bark contains tannin and is astringent and used against skin inflammations and ulcers, while an infusion is taken against malaria. It used to be utilised occasionally for tanning leather. Leaves, twigs and seed-cake are used to feed cattle. In India Schleichera oleosa is used as host for the lac insect (Laccifer lacca). The product is called kusum lac and is the best in quality and in yield. In Central India, Schleichera oleosa is much planted as a wayside tree.

The energy value of the wood is about 20 800 kJ/kg. The oil content of the kernel varies from 59—72%. The oil is yellowish-brown and semi-solid and consists of oleic acid (52%), arachidic acid (20%), stearic acid (10%), gadoleic acid (9%). It also contains cyanogenic compounds, which may cause giddiness and should be removed if the oil is used for human consumption. The press cake contains per 100 g approximately: water 5.5 g, protein 22 g, fat 49 g, carbohydrates 14 g, fibre 5 g, ash 3.5 g.
The leaves contain per 100 g dry matter approximately: crude protein 10.5 g, ether extract 2 g, N-free extract 49 g, crude fibre 32.5 g. The bark contains about 10% tannin and the analgesic compound lupeol and the antitumour agents betulin and betulic acid have been isolated from it.
The heartwood of Schleichera oleosa is pinkish-brown, very hard and durable, but cracks very easily during seasoning. To avoid cracking, logs should be sawn when green and the sawn timber closely stacked; the piles should be protected from the sun and from drying wind. The wood can be kiln-dried satisfactorily. The wood is very durable under cover, but not durable when exposed. It takes preservatives well. Dry wood is very hard to saw, it can be planed to a very smooth surface which takes a high, lasting polish. The weight of 1000 seeds is 500—700 g.

Dioecious, deciduous tree, up to 40 m tall. Bole occasionally up to 2 m in diameter, but generally much less, usually crooked and slightly buttressed. Bark smooth, grey. Branches terete, striate, with sparse, short fulvous sericeous hairs when young and with sessile glands, black, later yellowish-brown to ashy. Leaves paripinnate, (2—)3(—4)-jugate, the topmost leaflet sometimes situated like a terminal leaflet; axial parts usually early glabrescent; petiole terete to somewhat flattened or slightly grooved above, 2—6(—8) cm long, pulvinate; rachis terete to triangular; petiolule swollen, slightly grooved above, 1—3 mm long; leaflets elliptical to obovate, 4.5—18.5(—25) cm x 2.5—9 cm, chartaceous to coriaceous, dark brown or greyish-green above, lighter brown to greenish beneath, deep purple when young, base subacute to cuneate, often oblique, margin entire to repandous, apex obtuse or emarginate, sometimes shortly acuminate, veins in 12—15 pairs, looped and joined near the margin. Inflorescence 6—15 cm long, situated in the defoliated part of branchlets above leaf scars, sometimes axillary, consisting of a few simple (female) or sparsely branched (male) thyrses, the basal part with scattered, many-flowered fascicles, the upper part spicate, sparsely hairy; flowers functionally unisexual, pale yellow or pale green; pedicel up to 5 mm long; sepals 4—5, connate at base, lobes ovate to deltoid, about 1.5 mm long, obtuse to acute, with thin hairs on both sides, margin ciliate and sometimes glandular, deciduous in fruit; disk uninterrupted, patelliform, sinuate; petals absent; stamens 5—9, filaments about 2 mm long, sparsely hairy, much reduced in female flowers; ovary ovoid, slightly 3-angular and indistinctly 3-sulcate, about 1.3 mm long, style rather thick, up to 1.5 mm long, pistil much reduced in male flowers. Fruit a broadly ovoid, ellipsoid to subglobular berry, 1—2-seeded, 1.5—2.5 cm x 1—2 cm, base narrowed, apex pointed, yellow, hard-crustaceous, smooth or slightly spiny. Seed subglobular, about 12 mm x 10 mm x 8 mm, hilum orbicular, testa brown, smooth, glabrous; arillode completely covering the seed, thin papery, yellow.

Schleichera oleosa is deciduous, but completely leafless for a few days only. In India, leaves drop in December. It flowers at the beginning of the dry season and fruits about 6 months later. Schleichera oleosa produces root suckers freely and pollards well. In cultivation, it does not stand heavy pruning, since growth is rather slow. In Bihar (India), trees grow to a height of about 7 m and a stem diameter of 10 cm in 16 years; in Uttar Pradesh (India) coppice shoots reach a height of 2 m in 1 year, in South Kanara (India) 5 m in 3 years.

Schleichera oleosa requires 750—2500 mm annual rainfall and a dry season, which explains its absence from western Malesia. It tolerates absolute maximum temperatures of 35—47.5°C and absolute minimum temperatures of —2.5°C. In Java, it occurs usually at low altitudes, but can be found up to 900(—1200) m. It occurs spontaneously in dry, mixed deciduous forest and savanna with only scattered trees, sometimes gregariously. In Java, it is found in areas with natural teak forest. It grows on rather dry to occasionally swampy locations on various, often rocky, gravelly or loamy, well drained, preferably slightly acid soils. Schleichera oleosa is fire-resistant. Seedlings are frost sensitive and light-demanding.

Natural regeneration is by seed and root suckers. Seed can be stored in gunny bags for 1 year, in sealed containers for up to 2 years. Propagation is by direct sowing in thoroughly prepared soil or by stump planting. In nurseries in West Bengal (India), seed is sown 7.5 cm apart immediately after collection. Stumps are prepared after one year, when the seedling stem is about 1 cm in diameter. The stem is cut back to about 4 cm, the roots to 25 cm. Plant holes should be about 30 cm deep and wide. Regular weeding and protection from grazing is required.

When Schleichera oleosa is employed as a host for lac insects in northern India, trees are inoculated early in the rainy season (June—July) or in January—February. Shoots of 4—10 months old are most suitable for larval settlement. Lac is harvested after about 6 months. Only trees with a fully developed crown produce a good yield of lac. Trees can be improved by heavy pollarding. Trees should be rested for 12—18 months before being re-inoculated.

Stem blight (Rosellinia bunodes), yellow cork rot (Polyporus weberianus), white spongy rot (Daedalea flavida and Hexagonia apiaria) and white fibrous rot (Irpex flavus) are important diseases in India. Several defoliators, borers and sap suckers cause damage. The seed is attacked by a bug (Serinetha augur).

In India, a mature tree yields 21—28 kg depulped seed per year.

For depulping, fruits are kept in heaps for 2—4 days and are then rubbed clean. After crushing the depulped seed, the oil is extracted by boiling or pressing. The oil yield obtained by boiling is 32—35% of the kernel weight, by pressing 25—27%.
Raw lac is harvested with the branches as stick-lac. It is washed, dried and winnowed to yield a granular substance called seed-lac.

Where wild Schleichera oleosa occurs abundantly, it remains important as a fuelwood, but its growth is too slow to be planted for fuel. Where seed is available in large amounts, pressing and refining of oil combined with the manufacturing of seed cake as cattle feed may be viable, although the quantity currently processed is well below its potential. As a host of the lac insect, Schleichera oleosa is preferable to other hosts. Depending on demand for natural lac, it may be useful in village industry.

Axtell, B.L. & Fairman, R.M., 1992. Minor oil crops. Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Agricultural Services Bulletin, No 94. pp. 83-85.
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), 1972. The wealth of India. Raw Materials. Vol. 9. Publications & Information Directorate, CSIR, New Delhi, India. pp. 250-254.
Iwasa, S., 1974. Useful crops of the tropics. Tropical Agriculture Research Center, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Japan. pp. 383-386.
Jain, R.K., 1994. Fuelwood characteristics of medium tree and shrub species of India. Bioresource Technology 47: 81-84.
Leenhouts, P.W., 1994. Sapindaceae. Schleichera. In: Flora Malesiana, Series 1, Vol. 11. Foundation Flora Malesiana, Rijksherbarium, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands. pp. 727-729.
Radijanto, S.B., 1979. Model untuk penaksiran lak pada tanaman inang Schleichera oleosa Merr. [A model for estimating the lac production of Schleichera oleosa Merr. as a host plant]. Duta Rimba (Indonesia) 5 (31): 13-23.
Rappard, F.W., 1951. The organization of the lac cultivation in Indonesia. Indonesian Journal of Natural Sciences 107: 104-106.

S. Iwasa

Iwasa, S., 1997. Schleichera oleosa (Lour.) Oken. In: Faridah Hanum, I & van der Maesen, L.J.G. (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 11: Auxiliary plants. PROSEA Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. Database record: prota4u.org/prosea