5052

5(3): Timber trees; Lesser-known timbers

Cantleya Ridley

Fl. Mal. Pen. 1: 436 (1922).

ICACINACEAE

x = unknown; 2n = unknown

Dedaru (trade name). Brunei: cendana, samala, seranai. Indonesia: bedaru (general), garu buaya (Sumatra), mendaru (Bangka). Malaysia: bedaru (Sarawak), daru-daru (Peninsular), dedadu (Sabah).

Cantleya is a monotypic genus. The only species, C. corniculata (Becc.) Howard (synonyms: C. johorica Ridley, Stemonurus corniculatus (Becc.) Ridley, Urandra corniculata (Becc.) Foxw.), is found in Peninsular Malaysia (Johore), the Riau and Lingga Archipelago, Bangka, Sumatra and Borneo.

The heavy and hard wood of Cantleya is used for medium to heavy construction, bridge building, ship building, laboratory benches, heavy duty flooring, piling, flag poles, pepper support poles, vehicle bodies, bedding wood, tool handles, canes and fancy turnings. In Borneo it has been regarded as the second most valuable wood for house building. The reputed usefulness for heavy-duty furniture is doubtful. The fragrant wood may be used as a substitute for sandalwood (Santalum album L.).
The fruits are edible, but said to be of rather poor quality.

At the beginning of the 20th Century, "dedaru"" was reported to have been found in the Singapore market, supplies coming from Sumatra and Borneo. It is still exported from the latter areas but it is also used locally. As supplies are very limited, dedaru seldom comes on the market, and when it does it is generally sold in mixed consignments. Some of it may be marketed as "balau"" (heavy Shorea spp.). The fragrant wood is reputed to have been exported to China.

C. corniculata yields a heavy hardwood with a density of 840-1360 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content. Heartwood yellow-brown, sharply demarcated from the pale yellow-brown, 5 cm wide sapwood; grain interlocked; texture rather fine and even; wood with conspicuous ribbon figure on radial surface; freshly cut material with a fragrant odour. Growth rings absent; vessels medium-sized, mostly solitary with few radial or oblique pairs, open or containing tyloses; parenchyma moderately abundant, just visible to the naked eye, paratracheal vasicentric and slightly aliform; rays moderately fine to medium-sized, visible to the naked eye; ripple marks absent.
Shrinkage upon drying is low. The wood seasons well with a slight risk of surface checking; warping and splitting has been reported, but is probably not a problem. Boards of 13 mm and 38 mm thick take 2.5 and 6 months, respectively, to air dry. The wood is very hard and very strong. It is moderately difficult to saw, but fairly easy to turn and easy to plane. The wood is very durable, even in contact with the ground; the sapwood is susceptible to blue stain.
See also the tables on microscopic wood anatomy and wood properties.

An evergreen, medium-sized to fairly large tree up to 40 m tall; bole slender, cylindrical, branchless for up to 20 m, up to 60(-150) cm in diameter, usually expanded at base or rarely with buttresses up to 1.5 m high; bark surface finely, shallowly and rather irregularly, longitudinally fissured, grey or grey-green to brownish, inner bark fibrous, very thin, white; crown dense with small branches; twigs zig-zag. Leaves arranged spirally, simple, entire, abruptly bluntly acuminate, margin slightly curved inward, exstipulate. Flowers bisexual, in an axillary cyme, peduncle covered with small bracts and giving rise to dichotomously branched smaller branches bearing small clusters of sessile flowers; calyx 5-lobed; petals (4-)5, valvate, with inflexed apex; stamens (4-)5, broadening upwards and club-shaped, pubescent distally, anther cells almost horseshoe-shaped; ovary superior, 1-locular with 2 apical ovules, stigma sessile. Fruit a 1-seeded, fusiform drupe with thin, pulpy exocarp and fibrous-corky endocarp, brown to blackish when mature, splitting on one side from below up to the middle.
Trees flower and bear fruit throughout the year. The fruits are eaten by animals.

C. corniculata is comparatively rare and scattered, and occurs as a canopy tree in primary forest, from sea-level up to about 300 m altitude. It is found in the drier parts of freshwater and peat-swamp forest, in kerangas as well as in drier hill forest, on marshy or sandy soils. It has been found together with "meranti bakau"" (Shorea uliginosa Foxw.), "punah"" (Tetramerista glabra Miq.) and "kempas"" (Koompassia malaccensis Maingay ex Benth.).

In natural forest, natural regeneration of C. corniculata is generally sparse, although seed production is prolific. In a single germination trial, all seeds failed to germinate. In Bangka C. corniculata made up 3.5% of the total timber volume of trees over 10 cm in diameter.

C. corniculata may easily become endangered because of destruction of its habitat or overcutting, as it is scattered and the timber is much in demand. There are no records of Cantleya in seed or germplasm banks.

As supplies are dwindling, utilization of Cantley wood is expected to decrease. As the timber is held in esteem, the time is ripe for plantation establishment, necessitating research on its silvicultural characteristics.

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S.P. Teo

Teo, S.P., 1998. Cantleya Ridley. In: Sosef, M.S.M., Hong, L.T. and Prawirohatmodjo, S. (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 5(3): Timber trees; Lesser-known timbers. PROSEA Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. Database record: prota4u.org/prosea