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5(2): Timber trees; Minor commercial timbers

Fagraea racemosa Jack ex Wallich

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

Roxb., Fl. Ind. 2: 35 (1824).

Fagraea morindaefolia (Reinw.) Blume (1838), Fagraea subreticulata Blume (1850), Fagraea maingayi C.B. Clarke (1883).

False coffee tree (En). Indonesia: ki cankuda (Sundanese), melingu (Javanese), kayu si markopi-kopi (Sumatra). Malaysia: membera gading, setebal (Peninsular), engkudu hutan (Sarawak). Philippines: balatbuaya (Filipino), kukodmon (Bikol). Cambodia: han tuk (Koh Kong), nho pre (Kampot), prahout tuk (Kandal, Kompong Thom). Thailand: thum bok, phawa nam, waa nam (peninsular).

Southern Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, throughout the Malesian area, except for the eastern half of Java and the Lesser Sunda Islands, to the Solomon Islands and northern Australia.

The wood is used as tembesu, but the timber is often only available in small dimensions. It is used for general construction, live fence posts and combs; it is also applied as firewood. A decoction of leaves, bark, roots and flowers is used for medicinal purposes, mainly as a tonic after fever and for pains in the loins, but in the Philippines also as an antidote against snake bites. Wood-tar is used to blacken teeth. In Papua New Guinea, the leaves are used for sealing stone ovens and for wrapping food.

A shrub or small to medium-sized tree up to 25(—40) m tall, bole up to 30 cm in diameter, without buttresses, bark surface smooth but becoming narrowly and deeply fissured, pale grey to dark grey-brown, inner bark yellow-brown; leaves very variable, from broadly ovate via elliptical to obovate-oblong, lanceolate or rarely even linear, 5—50 cm 1—23 cm, apex rounded to acute and often short- to long-acuminate, secondary veins distinctly prominent below, petiole 0.2—5 cm long, stipules connate into an ocrea surrounding the stem; inflorescence terminal and usually drooping, pedicel with bracteoles at the base; corolla tube funnel-shaped, 2—4 cm long, stigma faintly 2-lobed; fruit subglobose to ellipsoid-ovoid, apiculate, bluish or greenish or red when ripe. Fagraea racemosa is highly variable and several forms have been distinguished. It is found in light to dense primary but more often secondary forest on swampy to dry soil, along rivers but also on podzolized sands, in savannas and lalang grassland vegetation. Locally, it is a conspicuous element of early secondary forest on waste lands and poor soils. The density of the wood is 700—870 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content.

[26]Ashton, P.S., 1988. Manual of the non-dipterocarp trees of Sarawak. Vol. 2. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Kuala Lumpur. 490 pp.
[69]Browne, F.G., 1955. Forest trees of Sarawak and Brunei and their products. Government Printing Office, Kuching. xviii + 369 pp.
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[140]Desch, H.E., 1941–1954. Manual of Malayan timbers. Malayan Forest Records No 15. 2 volumes. Malaya Publishing House Ltd., Singapore. 762 pp.
[162]Flora Malesiana (various editors), 1950–. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Boston, London.
[163]Flore du Cambodge du Laos et du Viêtnam (various editors), 1960–. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris.
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[368]Lemmens, R.H.M.J., 1991. Lithocarpus sundaicus (Blume) Rehder. In: Lemmens, R.H.M.J. & Wulijarni-Soetjipto, N. (Editors): Plant resources of South-East Asia No 3. Dye and tannin-producing plants. Pudoc, Wageningen. pp. 86–88.
[527]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.
[574]Smitinand, T., 1980. Thai plant names. Royal Forest Department, Bangkok. 379 pp.

M.S.M. Sosef

Sosef, M.S.M., 1995. Fagraea racemosa Jack ex Wallich. 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