3634

5(1): Timber trees; Major commercial timbers

Madhuca utilis (Ridley) H.J. Lam ex K. Heyne

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

Nutt. pl. Ned. Ind., ed. 2: 1231 (1927).

Payena utilis Ridley (1918), Madhuca stenophylla H.J. Lam (1925), Isonandra utilis (Ridley) Baehni (1965).

Malaysia: bitis, seminai, belian (Peninsular).

Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra and northern Borneo.

The timber is used as bitis, for heavy constructional work, paving blocks, agricultural implements and turnery. The oil from the seeds is used locally in Sumatra for cooking.

A large tree up to 50 m tall with bole up to 1 m in diameter and buttresses up to 2 m high; leaves closely clustered at tips of twigs, obovate to spatulate, 4—12.5(—18) cm 1.5—6 cm, secondary veins joined in irregular arches near margin, glabrous and glaucous beneath, stipules up to 3 mm long, caducous; flowers with sepals yellowish-brown woolly outside and glabrous inside except near tips, 8—9-lobed corolla sparsely woolly outside and glabrous inside except between stamens, 10—16 stamens and glabrous ovary; fruit ellipsoid to fusiform, 3.5—5.5 cm 1.5—3 cm, with woody or fleshy pericarp, 1-seeded; seed 3—4 cm long, with thin, brown testa and very large greyish scar, endosperm very thin or absent, cotyledons thick. Madhuca utilis is locally common, particularly in Peninsular Malaysia, in lowland primary forest; also found in swampy forest. The wood is dark red-brown, often with a purplish tinge. The density is 920—1200 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content. See also the table on wood properties.

[36]Baehni, C., 1965. Mémoires sur les Sapotacéees 3. Inventaire des genres. Boissiera 11: 1–262.
[100]Burgess, P.F., 1966. Timbers of Sabah. Sabah Forest Records No 6. Forest Department, Sabah, Sandakan. xviii + 501 pp.
[102]Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. 2nd edition. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur. Vol. 1 (A–H) pp. 1–1240. Vol. 2 (I–Z) pp. 1241–2444.
[190]Desch, H.E., 1954. Manual of Malayan timbers. Malayan Forest Records No 15. 2 volumes. Malaya Publishing House Ltd., Singapore. 762 pp.
[318]Heyne, K., 1927. De nuttige planten van Nederlands-Indië [The useful plants of the Dutch East Indies]. 2nd ed. 3 volumes. Departement van Landbouw, Nijverheid en Handel in Nederlandsch-Indië, 's-Gravenhage. 1953 pp.
[359]Keating, W.G. & Bolza, E., 1982. Characteristics, properties and uses of timbers. Vol. 1. South-East Asia, Northern Australia and the Pacific. Inkata Press Proprietary Ltd., Melbourne, Sydney & London. 362 pp.
[432]Lim, S.C., 1989. Malaysian timbers – bitis. Timber Trade Leaflet No 110. Malaysian Timber Industry Board, Forest Research Institute Malaysia. 6 pp.
[578]Research Institute of Wood Industry, 1988. Identification, properties and uses of some Southeast Asian woods. Chinese Academy of Forestry, Wan Shou Shan, Beijing & International Tropical Timber Organization, Yokohama. 201 pp.
[581]Ridley, H.N., 1922–1925. The flora of the Malay Peninsula. 5 volumes. Government of the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States. L. Reeve & Co., London.
[699]Timber Research and Development Association, 1979. Timbers of the world. Vol. 1: Africa, South America, Southern Asia and South East Asia. The Construction Press, Lancaster.
[733]van Royen, P., 1960. Revision of the Sapotaceae of the Malaysian area in a wider sense 20. Madhuca Gmelin. Blumea 10: 1–117.
[779]Whitmore, T.C. & Ng, F.S.P. (Editors), 1972–1989. Tree flora of Malaya. A manual for foresters. 4 Volumes. 2nd ed. Malayan Forest Records No 26. Longman Malaysia SDN Berhad, Kuala Lumpur.
[781]Whitmore, T.C., Tantra, I.G.M. & Sutisna, U., 1986–1990. Tree Flora of Indonesia. Checklists for Sumatra, Sulawesi, Bali, Nusa Tengara & Timor, Maluku and Kalimantan. 6 volumes. Agency for Forestry Research and Development, Forest Research and Development Centre, Bogor.
[792]Wong, T.M., 1981. Malaysian timbers – nyatoh. Malaysian Forest Service. Trade Leaflet No 54. Malaysian Timber Industry Board, Kuala Lumpur. 12 pp.

R.H.M.J. Lemmens

Lemmens, R.H.M.J., 1993. Madhuca utilis (Ridley) H.J. Lam ex K. Heyne. 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