4440

5(2): Timber trees; Minor commercial timbers

Myristica Gronov.

Fl. orient.: 141 (1755).

MYRISTICACEAE

x = unknown; Myristica elliptica: n = 21, Myristica fragrans: 2n = 42

Trade groups Penarahan: lightweight to medium-weight hardwood, e.g. Myristica buchneriana Warb., Myristica fatua Houtt., Myristica gigantea King, Myristica iners Blume, Myristica maingayi Hook.f.
Penarahan timber represents the wood of all genera of the family Myristicaceae, hence next to Myristica also Gymnacranthera, Horsfieldia and Knema. In the Philippines penarahan is traded mixed with red meranti or as mixed second class timber.

Penarahan: nutmeg, red heart-wood (En). Indonesia: mendarahan (general). Malaysia: darah darah (Sabah), kumpang (Sarawak). Papua New Guinea: nutmeg. Philippines: duguan (general). Burma (Myanmar): mutwinda. Thailand: chan-pa.

Myristica consists of more than 100 species and is distributed from southern India and Sri Lanka, through Burma (Myanmar), Indo-China, Thailand, the whole Malesian area, towards northern Australia, the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa. The eastern Malesian region comprises the largest species diversity for the genus.

The timber is often comparatively soft and not durable and when used for construction it should be treated with a suitable wood preservative. It is used for light temporary construction, concrete shuttering, mouldings, pattern making, cladding, interior finish, partitioning, flooring, cheap furniture, carving, cigar boxes, matchboxes and splints, packing cases, crates and plywood. The wood is easy to work and is used for wood carving and in puppet and shoe industries. It is also used as firewood, and in some places it is traditionally used for the fumigation of women after childbirth.
The fruits and nuts traded as nutmeg are produced by Myristica argentea Warb., Myristica fatua, Myristica fragrans Houtt., Myristica malabarica Lamk and Myristica succedanea Blume. Myristica fragrans is widely cultivated and produces the majority of the nutmeg in trade. Apart from its use as spice, nutmeg is generally also used in traditional medicine. Kernels of Myristica contain almost 50% fat and were formerly used in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. The fruits of Myristica crassa King and Myristica fragrans are edible. The red sap from the bark was used as a traditional natural dye.

Myristica timber is traded together with the timber of other Myristicaceae genera, and no separate production and trade figures are available. In 1983 2800 m³ of penarahan saw logs with a value of US$ 95 000 was exported from Peninsular Malaysia (2200 m³ to Singapore and 600 m³ to South Korea). In 1984 1050 m³ with a value of US$ 42 000 (US$ 40/m³) was exported (mainly to Singapore and a small amount of 50 m³ to Taiwan). The export of penarahan saw logs from Sabah was 10 000 m³ in 1987 with a value of US$ 610 000, and in 1992 the export of penarahan timber was 7000 m³ (97% as logs, 3% as sawn timber) with a total value of US$ 510 000 (US$ 71/m³ for logs, US$ 140/m³ for sawn timber). The contribution of Myristica timber to these totals is probably considerable.

Myristica wood is lightweight to medium-weight. The heartwood is pale brown or brown to orange-brown and distinctly or indistinctly demarcated from the yellowish to pale brown sapwood. The density is 400—790 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content. The grain is straight to slightly interlocked, texture moderately coarse. The wood is more or less lustrous.
At 15% moisture content, the modulus of rupture is c. 71 N/mm², modulus of elasticity 8500 N/mm², compression parallel to grain 42—43.5 N/mm², compression perpendicular to grain 5.5 N/mm², shear 9.5 N/mm², Janka side hardness 3100 N and Janka end hardness 4200 N.
The rates of shrinkage are moderate to fairly high: from green to 15% moisture content 0.9—3.3(—3.8)% radial and 2.0—4.1% tangential, and from green to oven dry 1.5—4.6% radial and 5.5—7.2% tangential. The wood dries fairly slowly, with only slight seasoning defects such as cupping, bowing, end checking, splitting and staining. The main source of degrade during seasoning is insect attack. In Malaysia, it takes 2.5—3 months to air dry 15 mm thick boards and about 4 months to air dry boards 40 mm thick. In Papua New Guinea, a kiln schedule with a dry-bulb temperature of 55—71°C gave acceptable results for Myristica buchneriana wood; using this schedule the wood can be dried from 65% to 15% moisture content in 6 days. A reconditioning treatment may prove advantageous.
Generally, the wood is easy to saw, plane, bore, turn, shape, mortise and sand to a smooth to moderately smooth finish, but sometimes boring and turning give moderate or poor results. The resistance to splitting when nailed is rated as good. The peeling properties are good. The veneer dries with little degrade, but it is susceptible to staining and fungal and borer attack; an antistain and insecticide treatment is recommended. The veneer can be glued satisfactorily to produce plywood.
The wood is classified as non-durable, but Myristica elliptica wood has been rated in Indonesia as moderately durable. Tests with stakes (50 mm 50 mm 600 mm) of Myristica gigantea wood in Malaysia showed an average service life of only 1 year in contact with the ground. The wood is susceptible to subterranean termite and fungal attack, and indoors it is liable to dry-wood termite and powder-post beetle attack. The heartwood is resistant to preservative treatment but the sapwood usually absorbs preservatives well; an absorption of 320(—450) kg/m³ can be obtained using an open tank treatment and an equal mixture of creosote and diesel fuel.
Wood of Myristica lowiana contains 50% cellulose, 27% lignin, 15% pentosan, 1.4% ash and 0.5% silica. The solubility is 2.8% in alcohol-benzene, 0.6% in cold water, 7.9% in hot water, and 13.7% in a 1% NaOH solution.

Dioecious, small to large evergreen trees up to 35(—45) m tall; bole cylindrical, up to 70(—100) cm in diameter, plank or flying buttresses and stilt roots sometimes present; bark surface usually fissured, sometimes flaking, brownish or occasionally black and brittle, inner bark pinkish to reddish-brown; crown monopodial, often pyramidal with spreading radial limbs; twigs striate, with or without lenticels. Leaves distichous, simple and entire, petiolate, the blades elliptical to elliptical-lanceolate or elliptical-obovate, up to 50 cm long, often glaucous and glabrous or glabrescent or with persistent indumentum of dendroid and/or scale-like hairs below; secondary veins often sunken above, straight or curved, tertiary venation finely reticulate and forming a close network; stipules absent. Inflorescence an axillary panicle with flowers in cymes or subumbels to reduced to short woody knobs, female inflorescence usually less branched or more compact; bracts small, caducous, bracteoles persistent, usually embracing the base of the flower on one side. Flowers actinomorphic, small, pedicelled, often fragrant; perianth elliptical to flask-shaped or campanulate, white to yellow, generally 3-lobed, often with reflexed lobes, glabrous or variously hairy outside, usually glabrous inside; male flowers with an androecium of 6—30 anthers fused with their back to a central column and with their sides to each other; female flowers with a superior, globose to subglobose, 1-celled, glabrous or hairy ovary, stigma sessile, minutely 2-lobed. Fruit globose to ovoid, pyriform or oblong, with a thick fleshy wall, orange-yellow, or rusty brown, eventually splitting into 2 halves, 1-seeded. Seed ellipsoid, enclosed in a red to orange aril which is laciniate to the base or nearly so, seed-coat hard; endosperm containing oil and much starch. Seedling with hypogeal germination; leaves arranged spirally.

— Macroscopic characters:
Heartwood pale brown or brown to orange-brown, variously demarcated from the yellowish to pale brown sapwood. Grain straight to slightly interlocked. Texture moderately coarse; wood more or less lustrous. Growth rings indistinct; vessels and rays visible to the naked eye; irregularly spaced banded parenchyma often present and visible with a hand lens.
— Microscopic characters:
Growth rings absent or indistinct, if present marked by narrow parenchyma bands and very slight differences in fibre wall thickness. Vessels diffuse, 3—11/mm², solitary and in radial multiples of 2—3, round to oval or slightly angular, average tangential diameter 140—200 µm; perforations simple, scalariform and reticulate; intervessel pits non-vestured, alternate to opposite, oval to polygonal, 5—10 µm; vessel-ray and vessel-parenchyma pits mainly large and simple and elongated horizontally, some smaller and half-bordered; helical thickenings and deposits absent; tyloses usually present. Fibres c. 1200 µm long, non-septate, thin-walled, with simple to minutely bordered pits mainly confined to the radial walls. Parenchyma scarce to abundant, only scanty paratracheal to narrowly vasicentric (e.g. Myristica elliptica), or also in zonate, tangential bands of 2—4(—6) cells wide, in 3—6-celled strands. Rays 7—12/mm, 1—3 cells wide, 0.2—1.6 mm high, heterocellular, composed of procumbent to square body ray cells and one row of upright marginal cells. Crystals absent. Oil cells and tanniferous tubes common in the rays.
Species studied: Myristica crassa, Myristica elliptica, Myristica iners.

Germination is according to the Horsfieldia seedling development type. The testa remains around the cotyledons and is shed together with them. The taproot, hypocotyl and plumule are pushed free from the testa by the elongation of the cotyledonary petioles; the hypocotyl is short and subterranean. The erect main stem of the seedling grows in flushes with dispersed leaves, and develops cataphylls early in the growing season. The leaves produced at the end of the growing season are largest and are close together, forming a pseudo-whorl. The shoot ends in a usually "open"" terminal bud from which the orthotropic growth proceeds in the next season. Branching occurs from the axils of the pseudo-whorled leaves, causing pseudo-verticillate branching from the main stem. The branches are usually more or less horizontal or somewhat drooping; they ramify to various degrees and in the periphery of the crown may carry twigs with inflorescences. The branch phyllotaxis is distichous. The general growth form of Myristicaceae is according to Massart's architectural model (e.g. Myristica fatua and Myristica fragrans). Strong erect-growing renewal shoots may be produced after severe damage to the crown, showing dispersed phyllotaxis.
Myristica elliptica and Myristica maingayi are normally stilt-rooted when growing in swamps, but do not produce stilts on well-drained soils. Myristica shows ramiflory in canopy trees. In many Myristicaceae the flowers are pollinated by bees. For Myristica malaccensis the period from flowering to fruiting is 7 months, which is slightly shorter than for cultivated nutmeg (Myristica fragrans; 9 months). The fruits are commonly dispersed by birds, including pigeons and hornbills.

The vernacular names are generally derived from the word blood, referring to the blood-red sap that exudes when the bark is slashed.
Species of freshwater swamp or peat-swamp forest often have stilt roots. These do not seem to develop when the same species grow in drier conditions, and hence are not a helpful character for identification.

Most species are found scattered in lowland tropical evergreen rain forest up to 800 m altitude. They are nearly always elements of the second storey, although some may occasionally reach the canopy top. Quite a number of species are found in freshwater swamp or peat-swamp forest, but others prefer well-drained fertile places such as hillsides and ridges. Generally they do not tolerate waterlogging or excessive drying out of the soil. Few species are found on limestone, or along the coast. The latter prefer a rocky or sandy substratum, with the exception of Myristica hollrungii which grows in the mud of the inner mangrove zone. Several species extend into the montane forest zone, and in New Guinea some are confined to montane forest up to 2200 m altitude.

Myristica is usually propagated from seed collected from under the tree. The seed dries out easily and cannot be stored, and loses its viability in about one month. Seed of Myristica crassa without aril has about 45% germination in 1.5—3.5 months and seed of Myristica malaccensis has about 75% germination in 1.5—4 months. Attempts have been made to propagate nutmeg by budding and cuttings, but these have failed so far. Shade appears to be beneficial in the early growth stages. Planting for timber in South-East Asia is not known.

When one-year-old seedlings of Myristica andamanica Hook.f., a timber species from the Andaman Islands were planted at an average height of 30 cm the survival was 90%; partial overhead shade proved essential.

The foliage of Myristica malaccensis is invariably galled; the galls develop within two weeks after leaf renewal. Living trees are rarely, if ever, attacked by borers.

In general, logs are remarkably free from natural defects, except for a very small area around the pith in which heart rot and compression failures or cross breaks occur. Occasionally, trees are slightly hollow and sometimes freshly sawn logs are apt to split longitudinally. Trees are liable to ambrosia beetle attack soon after felling.

The yield of Myristica wood from natural forest is generally low as the trees occur scattered. In natural forest near Samarinda, East Kalimantan, the timber volume of Myristica is about 1.85 m³/ha.

As in most other larger genera, the distribution and frequency of the various species differ considerably. Some occur over large areas and are common, but others are rare or occur very locally. Clearly, the latter category is more vulnerable. Myristica does not seem to be particularly liable to genetic erosion because it is rarely selectively logged for timber, and the timber is not in great demand.

Dioecy implies out-breeding and should be taken into account when attempting any breeding work.

Penarahan may be promising for local enrichment planting in logged-over areas, e.g. in the Moluccas and Irian Jaya where many species occur naturally. However, more information is needed on aspects such as silviculture, propagation and planting.

Bolza, E. & Kloot, N.H., 1966. The mechanical properties of 81 New Guinea timbers. Division of Forest Products Technological Paper No 41. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Melbourne. pp. 24-27.
Browne, F.G., 1955. Forest trees of Sarawak and Brunei and their products. Government Printing Office, Kuching. pp. 272-273.
Dahms, K.-G., 1982. Asiatische, ozeanische und australische Exporthölzer [Asiatic, Pacific and Australian export timbers]. DRW-Verlag, Stuttgart. pp. 226-227.
Desch, H.E., 1954. Manual of Malayan timbers. Malayan Forest Records No 15. Vol. 2. Malaya Publishing House LTD., Singapore. pp. 376-385.
de Wilde, W.J.J.O., 1990. Conspectus of Myristica (Myristicaceae) indigenous in the Moluccas. Blumea 35: 233-260.
Foreman, D.B., 1978. Myristicaceae (excluding Horsfieldia). In: Womersley, J.S. & Henty, E.E. (Editors): Handbooks of the flora of Papua New Guinea. Vol. 1. Melbourne University Press, Carlton. pp. 175-215.
Mohd. Shukari Midon, 1984. Malaysian timbers - penarahan. Malaysian Forest Service Trade Leaflet No 90. Malaysian Timber Industry Board, Kuala Lumpur. 9 pp.
Sinclair, J., 1968. Flora Malesianae precursores - XLII. The genus Myristica in Malesia and outside Malesia. Gardens' Bulletin Singapore 23: 1-540.
Thomas, A.V., 1951. Malayan timbers: Penarahan. Malayan Forester 14(4): 221-224.
Whitmore, T.C., 1972. Myristicaceae. In: Whitmore, T.C. (Editor): Tree flora of Malaya. A manual for foresters. Vol. 1. Forest Research Institute Malaysia. Longman Malaysia SDN. Berhad, Kuala Lumpur. pp. 315-345.

H. Sangat-Roemantyo (general part), A. Martawijaya (properties), P. Nimiago (wood anatomy), M.S.M. Sosef (selection of species)

Myristica bifurcata
Myristica buchneriana
Myristica crassa
Myristica crassipes
Myristica elliptica
Myristica fatua
Myristica fusca
Myristica gigantea
Myristica globosa
Myristica guatteriifolia
Myristica hollrungii
Myristica iners
Myristica lepidota
Myristica lowiana
Myristica maingayi
Myristica malaccensis
Myristica markgraviana
Myristica maxima
Myristica papyracea
Myristica philippensis
Myristica simiarum
Myristica sulcata
Myristica villosa

Sangat-Roemantyo, H., Martawijaya, A., Nimiago, P. & Sosef, M.S.M., 1995. Myristica Gronov.. 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

The following species in this genus are important in this commodity group and are treated separatedly in this database:
Myristica bifurcata
Myristica buchneriana
Myristica crassa
Myristica crassipes
Myristica elliptica
Myristica fatua
Myristica fusca
Myristica gigantea
Myristica globosa
Myristica guatteriifolia
Myristica hollrungii
Myristica iners
Myristica lepidota
Myristica lowiana
Myristica maingayi
Myristica malaccensis
Myristica markgraviana
Myristica maxima
Myristica papyracea
Myristica philippensis
Myristica simiarum
Myristica sulcata
Myristica villosa