3707

5(1): Timber trees; Major commercial timbers

Pinus kesiya Royle ex Gordon

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

Loudon, Gard. Mag. 16: 8 (1840).

Pinus insularis Endl. (1847), Pinus khasya Hook.f. (1888).

Benguet pine, Khasya pine (En). Pin à trois feuilles (Fr). Philippines: saleng (general), tapulao (Zambales). Burma: tinyu. Laos: khoua, mai hing. Thailand: son-sambai (central), chuang, kai-plueak-daeng (northern). Vietnam: th[oo]ng ba l[as], x[af] nu.

Eastern India, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, southern China, northern Thailand and the Philippines (northern Luzon); planted throughout the tropics, in South-East Asia in Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea.

Benguet pine is a general purpose timber. It is also used for the manufacture of particle board and pulp, but its usefulness depends on the quality of the wood. Oleoresin of good quality is tapped from the trees.

A large tree up to 45 m tall with a bole free of branches for 15—20 m and up to 100 cm in diameter, a thick, reticulately and deeply fissured bark, and often pruinose branchlets with a waxy bloom; needles in bundles of (2—)3(—4), very slender and flexible, (10—)12—21(—25) cm long, bright grass green; mature cones up to 3 together, pendulous, ovoid to ovoid-conical, (4—)5—8(—10) cm long, subsessile or on a short stalk up to 10 mm long; apophysis beaked or flattened with a short, blunt, deciduous umbo; seed small with a short, 1.5—2.5 cm long wing. The union of Pinus khasya and Pinus insularis into Pinus kesiya has been argued, because of their different field characteristics and products, and some authors contend that Pinus kesiya has not been properly described. Benguet pine is locally common in northern Luzon, often occurring in open pure stands on steep slopes at elevations of 300—2700 m. See also the table on wood properties.

[28]Armitage, F.B. & Burley, J., 1980. Pinus kesiya. Tropical Forestry Papers No 9. Commonwealth Forestry Institute, Oxford. 199 pp.
[153]Corner, E.J.H., 1988. Wayside trees of Malaya. 3rd edition. 2 volumes. The Malayan Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur. 774 pp.
[157]Critchfield, W.B. & Little, E.L., 1966. Geographic distribution of the pines of the world. Miscellaneous Publications 991. USDA Forest Service, Washington, D.C. 97 pp.
[163]Dallimore, W. & Jackson, A.B., 1966. A handbook of Coniferae and Ginkgoaceae. 4th edition. Revised by S.G. Harisson. Edward Arnold Ltd., London. xix + 729 pp.
[178]de la Cruz, R.E., 1983. Technologies for the inoculation of mycorrhiza to pines in ASEAN. In : Te Aho, T. & Hosking, M.R. (Editors): Workshop on nursery and plantation practices in the ASEAN. New Zealand Forest Service, Wellington. pp. 94–111.
[224]Farjon, A., 1984. Pines: drawings and descriptions of the genus Pinus. E.J. Brill, Leiden. 220 pp.
[225]Farjon, A., 1990. A bibliography of Conifers. Regnum Vegetabile 122. Koeltz Scientific Books, Königstein. 129 pp.
[295]Green, C.L., 1974. Gum turpentine analysis of some Pinus kesiya, P. caribaea and P. oocarpa provenances. Tropical Science 16: 195–206.
[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.
[417]Lee, Y.H., Engku Abdul Rahman & Chu, Y.P., 1979. The strength properties of some Malaysian timbers. Revised edition. Malaysian Forest Service Trade Leaflet No 34. Malaysian Timber Industry Board, Kuala Lumpur. 107 pp.
[488]Mirov, N.T., 1967. The genus Pinus. Ronald Press Company, New York. 602 pp.
[517]Nguyen-kha, 1965. Les forêts de Pinus khasya et de Pinus merkusii du Centre-Vietnam. Etude de la dynamique des sols en liaison avec celle de la végétation [Pinus khasya and Pinus merkusii forests of Central Vietnam. Study of the soil dynamics in relation to that of the vegetation]. Faculté de Science, Université de Nancy.
[534]Pearson, R.S. & Brown, H.P., 1932. Commercial timbers of India. Their distribution, supplies, anatomical structure, physical and mechanical properties and uses. 2 volumes. Government of India, Central Publication Branch, Calcutta. x + 1150 pp.
[548]Pollisco, F.S. & Eusebio, M.A., 1978. Wood quality and utilization of Philippine plantation species: Benguet pine (Pinus insularis Endl.). In: Proceedings of the first IUFRO conference on wood quality and utilization of tropical species, Los Baños, Laguna, 30 oct – 3 nov. 1978. Forest Research Institute, Laguna. pp. 271–284.
[579]Reyes, L.J., 1938. Philippine woods. Technical Bulletin No 7. Commonwealth of the Philippines, Department of Agriculture and Commerce. Bureau of Printing, Manila. 536 pp. + 88 plates.
[748]van Steenis, C.G.G.J. & de Wilde, W.J.J.O. (Editors), 1950–. Flora Malesiana. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Boston, London.
[764]Webb, D.B. et al., 1984. A guide to species selection for tropical and sub-tropical plantations. 2nd ed. Tropical Forestry Papers No 15. Unit of Tropical Silviculture, Commonwealth Forestry Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford. 256 pp.

M.S.M. Sosef

Sosef, M.S.M., 1993. Pinus kesiya Royle ex Gordon. 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