4028

5(2): Timber trees; Minor commercial timbers

Canarium ovatum Engl.

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

A.DC., Monogr. Phan. 4: 110 (1883).

Canarium pachyphyllum Perkins (1904), Canarium melioides Elmer (1911).

Pilinut (En). Philippines: pili, pilaui (general), liputi (Tagalog).

The Philippines; also commonly planted there.

The wood is used as kedondong, and as firewood. More important are the pilinuts; the seed of the fruit is used commercially for various confectionary and bakery products. The boiled pulp of the fruit is edible, and contains an oil used for cooking and lighting. The resin is suitable for similar purposes and is also collected as "Manila elemi"". The shell enclosing the seed also makes an excellent fuel for cooking. The young shoots and young leaves are edible. The trees are planted in wind-breaks, as an ornamental, and as a shade tree.

A medium-sized to fairly large tree up to 35 m tall, bole up to 100 cm in diameter, not buttressed, bark surface flaky, brown, inner bark pale brown, exuding a white resin; stipules persistent, inserted on the petiole, deltoid to lingulate; leaves with 5—9 leaflets, leaflets with distinctly acuminate apex, margin entire, glabrous, with 8—12 pairs of secondary veins; inflorescence axillary, narrowly paniculate to nearly racemose; flowers up to 13 mm long, stamens 6; fruit ovoid to ellipsoid, triangular in cross-section, 35—63 mm 20—28 mm, glabrous. Canarium ovatum occurs in primary forest, up to 500 m altitude.

[68]Brown, W.H., 1951–1957. Useful plants of the Philippines. Reprint of the 1941–1943 edition. 3 volumes. Technical Bulletin 10. Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Bureau of Printing, Manila.
[78]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.
[125]de Guzman, E., Umali, R.M. & Sotalbo, E.D., 1986. Guide to the Philippine flora and fauna. Vol. 3: Dipterocarps, non-dipterocarps. Natural Resources Management Centre, Ministry of Natural Resources & University of the Philippines, Quezon City and Los Baños. xx + 414 pp.
[162]Flora Malesiana (various editors), 1950–. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Boston, London.
[188]Garcia, P.R., 1983. Pili: a potential reforestation crop of many uses. Canopy International 9(2): 12–13.
[342]Lam, H.J., 1932. The Burseraceae of the Malay Archipelago and Peninsula, with annotations concerning extra-Malayan species, especially of Dacryodes, Santiria and Canarium. Contributions a l'Ttude de la flore des Indes NTerlandaises XXII. Bulletin du Jardin Botanique de Buitenzorg, STrie III, 12: 281–561.
[366]Leenhouts, P.W., 1959. Revision of the Burseraceae of the Malaysian area in a wider sense Xa. Canarium Stickm. Blumea 9: 275–647.
[646]Tongacan, A.L., 1972. Manila elemi. FORPRIDECOM Technical Note No 122. 2 pp.
[673]Verheij, E.W.M. & Coronel, R.E. (Editors), 1991. Plant resources of South-East Asia No 2. Edible fruits and nuts. Pudoc, Wageningen. 446 pp.
[690]Weidelt, H.J. (Editor), 1976. Manual of reforestation and erosion control for the Philippines. Schriftenreihe No 22. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH, Eschborn. 569 pp.

K.M. Kochummen

Kochummen, K.M., 1995. Canarium ovatum Engl.. 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