5518

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

Gordonia J. Ellis

Phil. Trans., London 60: 518, t. 11 (1771).

THEACEAE

x = 15; G. axillaris (Roxb. ex Ker-Gawl.) Dietr.: 2n = 30, G. excelsa: 2n = 30

Samak (trade name). Gordonia (En). Malaysia: meluluk (Sabah), samak pulut (Peninsular), tekoyong-koyong (Sarawak).

Gordonia comprises about 70 species occurring in tropical Asia and tropical America with a single species in the south-eastern part of the United States. Some 40 species are Asian and are found in India, Sri Lanka, Burma (Myanmar), Indo-China, southern China, Taiwan, Thailand, throughout the Malesian region, east to the Bismarck Archipelago. Within Malesia 21 species are recognized, distributed as follows: Peninsular Malaysia 9 species, Sumatra 4, Java 2, Borneo 6, the Philippines, Sulawesi and the Lesser Sunda Islands 2, and the Moluccas and New Guinea 1 species.

The wood of Gordonia is used for general construction under cover, e.g. door and window frames, flooring, planking, beams, weather boarding, mouldings, cheap furniture and brushware. A good-quality plywood can be manufactured from the wood and it is suitable for the production of particle board. The wood is also used as fuelwood and for the production of charcoal.
The bark yields tannin which has been used in Peninsular Malaysia to dye and tan fishing nets and rough clothing. The flowers of G. excelsa are used medicinally instead of those of Schima wallichii (DC.) Korth. subsp. noronhae (Reinw. ex Blume) Bloembergen, together with many other ingredients, in a draught applied after childbirth. The leaves are said to be boiled and used as a beverage to cure diarrhoea and dysentery. The bark of G. amboinensis has been used as a fish poison.

"Samak"" is the trade name for timber of the genera Gordonia, Adinandra and Schima. Utilization is probably mainly on a local scale. In 1996 Papua New Guinea exported about 2300 m³ of Gordonia logs at an average free-on-board (FOB) price of US$ 104/m³.

Gordonia yields a medium-weight hardwood with a density of 480-840 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content. Heartwood yellow-rose, grey-brown, red-brown or red-brown with a purple tinge, not clearly differentiated from the paler sapwood; grain interlocked, occasionally straight; texture fine and even; brown silver grain often present. Growth rings mostly indistinct; vessels moderately small, typically angular, mostly solitary with radial pairs frequently showing radial or oblique divisions from perforation plates, occasionally with red-brown deposit; parenchyma sparse, apotracheal diffuse tending to diffuse-in-aggregates, hardly discernable; rays moderately fine, visible with a hand lens; ripple marks absent.
Shrinkage of the wood upon seasoning is high. It seasons readily and well with only slight surface and end checking. The wood is moderately hard and strong. It works fairly easy and planes to a smooth surface. It is moderately durable under cover. The heartwood is difficult to impregnate with preservatives and susceptible to shot-hole borer attack. The sapwood is non-susceptible to Lyctus.
See also the table on microscopic wood anatomy.

Evergreen, small to medium-sized or rarely large trees up to 30(-50) m tall, rarely shrubs; bole straight or sometimes sinuous, branchless for up to 18(-27) m, up to 70(-130) cm in diameter, without buttresses, often spurred; bark surface fissured or irregularly flaky or scaly, greyish or brownish, mottled with pale patches, inner bark fibrous, red, red-brown or pink. Leaves arranged spirally, simple, entire or serrate, exstipulate. Flowers axillary, solitary or in a few-flowered fascicle, with bracts and bracteoles; sepals 5 or 6, persistent in fruit; petals 5 or 6, rarely 9 or 10, more or less unequal, usually connate at base; stamens many, in 3 or 4 whorls or indistinct fascicles, shortly connate at base and briefly adnate to the corolla; ovary superior, usually 5-locular with (2-)3-5(-8) ovules in each cell; styles 3 or 5, free or variably fused. Fruit a woody capsule, dehiscing with 5 valves from the apex to the base along a persistent column; seed with a unilateral wing. Seedling with epigeal germination; cotyledons emergent, leafy; hypocotyl elongated; all leaves arranged spirally.
A 43-year-old G. multinervis tree in the Arboretum of the Forest Research Institute Malaysia, Kepong attained 26 m in height and 34 cm in diameter. Flowering is generally seasonal and occurs once or twice a year. Flowers of G. singaporeana proved nocturnal with the corolla and stamens falling after flowering for 1 night. The fruits usually take 2-4 months to mature. The winged seeds are dispersed by wind.

Most Gordonia species are found in primary lowland evergreen rain forest to lower and occasionally upper montane forest, up to 1700(-2300) m altitude. They usually occur in well-drained sites in flat country but also on hillsides and ridges. Individual species have been reported from permanent and periodic swamp forest, kerangas, more open forest and old secondary forest. In Papua New Guinea Gordonia is common in the mixed monsoon forest of the Western Province.

In the mountains of Java G. excelsa has been recommended as one of the large trees in mixed timber plantations. Natural regeneration of G. excelsa in montane forest can sustain in open areas as well as in dense shade.

Most Gordonia species do not seem to be at immediate risk of genetic erosion, but some of the rarer ones occurring in more specialized habitats, such as G. grandiflora and G. hirtella, may easily become endangered by habitat destruction.

As supplies are somewhat limited there appears to be little scope for increased utilization of Gordonia except on a local scale.

[70]Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr., R.C., 1963-1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Wolters-Noordhoff, Groningen.
[75]Bakhoven, A.C., 1930. Vul-, drijf- en dekkingshout in wildhoutbergculturen, dan wel, de in bergwildhoutculturen in te brengen houtsoorten voor blijvend onderbestand en ondergroei [Auxiliary, nursing and soil-covering tree species in the montane non-teak plantations and tree species to mix in the montane non-teak plantations to form a permanent understorey tree layer and undergrowth]. Tectona 23: 558-569.
[92]Barker, W.R., 1980. Taxonomic revisions in Theaceae in Papuasia I. Gordonia, Ternstroemia, Adinandra and Archboldiodendron. Brunonia 3: 1-60.
[101]Beekman, H., 1920. 78 Preanger houtsoorten. Beschrijving, afbeelding en determinatietabel [78 Priangan wood species. Description, pictures and identification key]. Mededeelingen No 5. Proefstation voor het Boschwezen, Buitenzorg. 186 pp.
[161]Burger, D., 1972. Seedlings of some tropical trees and shrubs mainly of South East Asia. Pudoc, Wageningen. 399 pp.
[163]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.
[198]Cockburn, P.F., 1976-1980. Trees of Sabah. 2 volumes. Sabah Forest Records No 10. Forest Department Sabah, Sandakan.
[209]Corner, E.J.H., 1988. Wayside trees of Malaya. 3rd edition. 2 volumes. The Malayan Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur. 774 pp.
[267]Desch, H.E., 1941-1954. Manual of Malayan timbers. Malayan Forest Records No 15. 2 volumes. Malaya Publishing House Ltd., Singapore. 762 pp.
[300]Eddowes, P.J., 1977. Commercial timbers of Papua New Guinea, their properties and uses. Forest Products Research Centre, Department of Primary Industry, Port Moresby. xiv + 195 pp.
[348]Forest Products Research Centre, 1967. Properties and uses of Papua and New Guinea timbers. Forest Products Research Centre, Port Moresby. 30 pp.
[436]Heyne, K., 1927. De nuttige planten van Nederlands-Indië [The useful plants of the Dutch East Indies]. 2nd edition, 3 volumes. Departement van Landbouw, Nijverheid en Handel in Nederlandsch-Indië. 1953 pp. (3rd edition, 1950. van Hoeve, 's-Gravenhage/Bandung. 1660 pp.).
[438]Hildebrand, F.H., 1951. Daftar nama pohon-pohonan Djawa-Madura dengan keterangan-keterangan tentang penjiaran dan ukurannja (telah diperbaiki) [Revised list of tree species of Java-Madura with notes on their distribution and dimensions]. Laporan No 50. Balai Penjelidikan Kehutanan, Bogor. 183 pp.
[542]Keng, H., 1984. Florae Malesianae precursores - LVIII, part two. The Genus Gordonia (Theaceae) in Malesia. Gardens' Bulletin, Singapore 37: 1-47.
[634]Kramer, F., 1926. Onderzoek naar de natuurlijke verjonging en den uitkap in Preanger gebergtebosch [Research on natural regeneration and selective cutting in the Priangan mountain forest]. Thesis. Agricultural University Wageningen. 182 pp.
[701]Liang, D. & Baas, P., 1991. The wood anatomy of the Theaceae. IAWA Bulletin n.s. 12: 333-353.
[832]Ng, F.S.P. & Tang, H.T., 1974. Comparative growth rates of Malaysian trees. Malaysian Forester 37: 2-23.
[861]Oey Djoen Seng, 1951. De soortelijke gewichten van Indonesische houtsoorten en hun betekenis voor de praktijk [Specific gravity of Indonesian woods and its significance for practical use]. Rapport No 46. Bosbouwproefstation, Bogor. 183 pp.
[974]Salvosa, F.M., 1963. Lexicon of Philippine trees. Bulletin No 1. Forest Products Research Institute, College, Laguna. 136 pp.
[1039]Smitinand, T. & Larsen, K. (Editors), 1970-. Flora of Thailand. The Forest Herbarium, Royal Forest Department, Bangkok.
[1221]Whitmore, T.C. & Ng, F.S.P. (Editors), 1972-1989. Tree flora of Malaya. A manual for foresters. 4 volumes. Malayan Forest Records No 26. Longman Malaysia Sdn. Berhad, Kuala Lumpur & Petaling Jaya.
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[1239]Wong, T.M., 1976. Wood structure of the lesser known timbers of Peninsular Malaysia. Malayan Forest Records No 28. Forest Research Institute Malaysia, Kepong. xi + 115 pp.
[1242]Wong, T.M., 1982. A dictionary of Malaysian timbers. Malayan Forest Records No 30. Forest Research Institute Malaysia, Kepong. 259 pp.

E. Boer (general part), M.S.M. Sosef (general part, selection of species)

Gordonia amboinensis
Gordonia borneensis
Gordonia excelsa
Gordonia grandiflora
Gordonia hirtella
Gordonia integerrima
Gordonia luzonica
Gordonia marginata
Gordonia multinervis
Gordonia ovalis
Gordonia sarawakensis
Gordonia singaporeana

Boer, E. & Sosef, M.S.M., 1998. Gordonia J. Ellis. 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

The following species in this genus are important in this commodity group and are treated separatedly in this database:
Gordonia amboinensis
Gordonia borneensis
Gordonia excelsa
Gordonia grandiflora
Gordonia hirtella
Gordonia integerrima
Gordonia luzonica
Gordonia marginata
Gordonia multinervis
Gordonia ovalis
Gordonia sarawakensis
Gordonia singaporeana