3346

5(1): Timber trees; Major commercial timbers

Alstonia scholaris (L.) R.Br.

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

Mem. Wern. Nat. Hist. Soc. 1: 76 (1811).

Echites scholaris L. (1767), Tabernaemontana alternifolia Burm. (1768), Echites pala Ham. (1822).

White cheesewood, milkwood pine, blackboard tree (En). Brunei: pulai lilin. Indonesia: pulai (general), pule (Java), rite (Ambon). Malaysia: pulai (Peninsular). Papua New Guinea: white cheesewood, milky pine. Philippines: dita (general), dalipaoen. Burma: lettok. Laos: tinpet. Thailand: sattaban, teenpet (central), hassaban (Kanchanaburi). Vietnam: c[aa]y m[of] cua, c[aa]y s[uwx]a.

Alstonia scholaris is the most widely distributed species in the genus, found from Sri Lanka and India through mainland South-East Asia and southern China, throughout Malesia, to northern Australia, the Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomon Islands. Planted elsewhere.

Alstonia scholaris is the most important source of pulai timber. The wood yields a good-quality pulp. In Java the wood was formerly used for school blackboards (hence 'scholaris'). The thin roots and the bark have a bitter taste; the bark contains many alkaloids and is used medicinally for many purposes (e.g. as anthelmintic, astringent tonic, alterative, antidiarrhoeaticum and antiperiodicum as well as for treating fever and other debilitating diseases). The latex can be used to clean wounds, or when mixed with oil, to treat earache and is often used in traditional medicine. It also provides a good-quality chewing gum. A poultice made from the leaves has been reported as a good remedy against skin diseases. The tree is sometimes planted as an ornamental.

A medium-sized to fairly large tree of up to 40 m tall, bole cylindrical, in older trees massively fluted, up to 125 cm in diameter, with stout buttresses of c. 6 m tall which spread out at the base for up to 2 m, outer bark brown or yellowish-white, smooth but coming off evenly in small papery flakes, with horizontally enlarged lenticels and hoops, inner bark yellow to brown, usually tinged yellowish, with copious white latex; leaves on a 1.5-3 cm long petiole, in whorls of 5-8, 7-17 cm long, elliptical, usually with a rounded apex and numerous secondary veins; calyx pubescent, corolla pubescent outside; follicles glabrous. Two varieties can be recognized: var. scholaris, having glabrous leaves, and var. velutina Monach., having strigillose-pilose leaves beneath. The latter variety occurs in Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo and New Guinea. Alstonia scholaris is most abundant in monsoon areas, and it tolerates a variety of soils and habitats, including secondary vegetation. It occurs up to 500(-1000) m altitude. As an ornamental it has proved adaptable to the climates of southern Florida and California (United States). The density of the wood is 270-490 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content. See also the table on wood properties.

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Rudjiman

Rudjiman, 1993. Alstonia scholaris (L.) R.Br.. In: Soerianegara, I. and Lemmens, R.H.M.J. (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 5(1): Timber trees; Major commercial timbers. PROSEA Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. Database record: prota4u.org/prosea