5559

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

Haldina Ridsd.

Blumea 24: 360 (1978).

RUBIACEAE

x = unknown; H. cordifolia: n = 22

Haldu (En, India). Burma (Myanmar): hnaw, nhan-ben, nhing-pen. Cambodia: khvao. Laos: 'khao, 'thom. Thailand: kwao, tong lueang, tum kwao (northern). Vietnam: g[as]o l[as] tim.

Haldina is a monotypic genus. The species H. cordifolia (Roxb.) Ridsd. (synonyms: Adina cordifolia (Roxb.) Hook. f., Nauclea cordifolia Roxb.) occurs in India, Sri Lanka, Burma (Myanmar), Indo-China, southern China, Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia (very rare).

The wood of H. cordifolia is used for house construction (doors, windows, stairs and flooring), boat building, and for furniture, implements and face veneer. It is also suitable for fine turnery work, rulers, pencil slats, bobbins, boxes and piano keys. The wood is reported as acid-resistant and could be suitable for laboratory bench tops and similar uses.
In Burma (Myanmar) it is used as ground cover in teak (Tectona grandis L. f.) plantations.

The wood of H. cordifolia is usually traded locally and is rarely exported. In most countries the production is small, but an annual production of 20 000 m³ was reported for Thailand in the 1970s.

H. cordifolia is a medium-weight to heavy hardwood with a density of 570-895 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content. Heartwood yellow when fresh, turning pale yellow or reddish-brown on exposure, not clearly defined from the very wide, yellowish-white sapwood; grain fairly straight, occasionally interlocked or spiral; texture very fine and even; wood lustrous. Growth rings not always distinct; vessels moderately small, solitary, occasionally in radial multiples of 2-3 or in small clusters, visible only with a hand lens, open; parenchyma scarce, paratracheal vasicentric, apotracheal diffuse and diffuse-in-aggregates, not visible even with a hand lens; rays moderately fine; ripple marks absent.
Shrinkage is high and the wood has a slight tendency to check and split during air seasoning, therefore kiln drying is advisable. The wood is not very stable in use. It is moderately hard and strong. The wood is easy to work with hand and machine tools, but should be planed with care to avoid picking up of grain, it polishes well and takes a high lustrous finish. The wood is moderately durable, preservative treatment by pressure impregnation of both sapwood and heartwood is easy. The heartwood is resistant to fungi, the sapwood is susceptible to Lyctus.
The gross energy value of the wood is 18 460 kJ/kg.
See also the tables on microscopic wood anatomy and wood properties.

A deciduous, small to medium-sized, sometimes fairly large tree up to 30(-40) m tall; bole branchless for up to 20(-25) m, up to 110(-150) cm in diameter, with buttresses and often fluted; bark surface scaly, dippled, greyish-brown to reddish-brown, inner bark dark red to brown. Terminal vegetative bud flattened. Leaves opposite, simple, entire, broadly ovate, cordate at base; stipules appressed, markedly keeled. Flowers in an axillary, stalked, yellowish head, 5-merous, heads (2-4)-10 from an axil; interfloral bracteoles present; calyx with a short tube and oblong lobes; corolla hypocrateriform, with valvate lobes (but strongly imbricate at apex); stamens inserted in the upper part of the corolla tube; ovary inferior, 2-locular with many ovules, style exserted, stigma ovoid to subglobose. Fruit in a head-like infructescence, free, splitting into 4 parts, with persistent central axis and calyx. Seed ovoid, slightly bilaterally compressed, narrowly winged. Seedling with epigeal germination; cotyledons leafy.
Haldina is related to Adina and a group of 4 small "satellite"" genera (including Adinauclea, Metadina and Pertusadina) in the tribe Naucleeae. It can be recognized particularly by the flattened terminal vegetative bud, the lateral flower heads and the appressed, keeled stipules.

H. cordifolia occurs frequently but scattered in deciduous forest in the lowland and lower hills. In Burma (Myanmar) and Thailand it is often associated with teak (Tectona grandis L. f.).

Most information on propagation and planting of H. cordifolia originates from India and Burma (Myanmar). It can be raised from seed, but direct seeding failed as the seed is minute (about 11 million seeds/kg). Ripe fruit heads should be collected before seeds are shed, when the dry separation of seeds from the heads is easy. Seeds can be stored for at least one year in an airtight receptacle; during the first year the germination capacity increases to 13% due to after-ripening. A pretreatment by soaking the seeds in water for 12 hours and then drying them slightly to facilitate sowing has been recorded. As with other very fine seeds, they should be sown in very fine sand, covered very lightly with fine soil or sand and watered by spraying frequently but lightly. They should be protected from direct sunlight and rain. Mulching the seedbeds proved better than using raised screens for this. Damping-off has been observed in the nursery. When 2-3 months old, seedlings are pricked out into containers. As young plants are fragile, bare-rooted planting stock is not recommended. Stumps of two-year-old seedlings, however, are very successful as planting stock. One-year-old seedlings can be planted at 2 m x 2 m. Wildlings have also been used successfully. Although light-demanding, H. cordifolia needs light shade in the first few years. Good drainage and weeding after planting are essential for optimal development of the plants. In agroforestry trials its leaves and leaf extracts proved to have a serious allelopathic effect on associated crops. Protection from grazing and the occurrence of bare soil are essential for the establishment of natural regeneration. H. cordifolia coppices easily.
Debarking immediately after felling is recommended to prevent fungal attack of the sapwood. In India girdling before harvest is practised to improve wood quality, as stems can slowly air dry before actually being harvested. Trial plantations have been established in Nigeria and South Africa, but results are not known.

As H. cordifolia is common in a large area and occasionally planted, it does not seem to be endangered.

Although H. cordifolia is not known in Malesia (except for a single collection from northern Peninsular Malaysia), it might be a promising timber for planting in areas with a seasonal climate because it has favourable wood properties. Trial plantations using the information available from India are needed to confirm its potential.

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Cheksum Tawan

Tawan, C., 1998. Haldina Ridsd.. 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