4278

5(2): Timber trees; Minor commercial timbers

Homalium foetidum (Roxb.) Benth.

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

Journ. Linn. Soc., Bot. 4: 37 (1860).

Homalium luzoniense Fernandez-Villar (1880), Homalium platyphyllum Merr. (1918), Homalium novoguineense v. Slooten (1919).

Ternate ironwood (En). Indonesia: gia (general), melmas (Kalimantan), momala (Sulawesi). Malaysia: petaling padang (Peninsular), keruing renkas, bansisian (Sabah). Papua New Guinea: malas (general). Philippines: aranga (general), kamagahai (Bikol), yagau (Cebu Bisaya).

Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo, the Philippines, Sulawesi, the Moluccas, New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago.

Homalium foetidum is a fairly important source of malas timber; it is used amongst others for houses, bridges and for combs.

A medium-sized to large or sometimes very large tree up to 45(—62) m tall, bole straight, branchless for up to 30(—55) m, up to 100(—120) cm in diameter, with steep buttresses up to 2 m high, bark surface becoming rugose with many large lenticels and horizontal raised ridges; leaves oblong to ovate-oblong, (10—)12—20(—28) cm 5—8(—11) cm, usually coarsely crenate, abruptly acuminate, glabrous, shining above, dull beneath; panicles usually many, composed of several to many spike-like racemes, covered with a very short grey indumentum; flowers in spaced, whorled fascicles, 7—8-merous, on 1—2 mm long pedicels, sepals and petals pilose, stamens in pairs in front of each petal. Homalium foetidum occurs scattered in primary and secondary rain forest or in thickets, often along rivers, on clayey or sandy soil, sometimes on periodically inundated land, up to 200(—530) m altitude. In Papua New Guinea it is associated with Pometia pinnata type of lowland rain forest, where it can make up up to 15% of the gross volume. The density of the wood is 750—1060 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content. See also the table on wood properties.

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M.S.M. Sosef

Sosef, M.S.M., 1995. Homalium foetidum (Roxb.) Benth.. 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