5720

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

Licania Aubl.

Hist. pl. Guiane 1: 119, t. 45 (1775).

CHRYSOBALANACEAE

x = unknown; 2n = unknown

Red beam (En). Brunei: kayu agong, sampaluan (Malay), piasau-piasau (Kedayan). Indonesia: kayu besi (Bangka). Malaysia: merbatu kechil (Peninsular), sampaluan, tampaluan (Dusun, Sabah). Philippines: amayan (general), dagingan (Samar-Leyte Bisaya), gapus (Tagbanua). Thailand: khra, khru ra ton (peninsular).

Licania comprises over 200 species, the vast majority of which occurs in the Neotropics. One species is found in West Africa and three in the Malesian region, with a single timber-producing one: L. splendens (Korth.) Prance (synonyms: Angelesia splendens Korth., Coccomelia nitida (Hook. f.) Ridley, Parinarium philippinense Elmer). The latter occurs in peninsular Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, West Java (rare), Borneo and the Philippines.

The strong and durable wood of Licania is used for house posts, railway sleepers and salt-water piling. Because of its toughness it is suitable for tool handles; it is also used for charcoal production.
Though edible, the fruit is not often eaten.

Licania timber may occasionally be sold as "merbatu"", together with that of the genera Atuna, Maranthes and Parinari. Supplies, however, are limited.

Licania yields a heavy hardwood with a density of 880-1130 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content. Heartwood reddish or pale brown with a pink tinge, not clearly demarcated from the paler sapwood; grain straight; texture fine and even; wood with some watered-silk figure on radial surface. Growth rings indistinct, sometimes visible with a hand lens by dense tissue and parenchyma bands twice as far apart; vessels variable in size, from moderately small to moderately large, with oblique tendency, predominantly solitary, tyloses present, occasionally with chalk-white deposits; parenchyma abundant, apotracheal in narrow bands, evenly spaced except near growth ring boundaries, conspicuous; rays very fine, only visible with a hand lens; ripple marks absent.
The wood is apt to split in seasoning unless proper precautions are taken. It is very hard, very strong and tough. It is difficult to work due to the presence of silica, but a smooth finish is obtained with sharp tools. The wood is moderately durable to durable when exposed to the weather and is resistant to marine borer attack.
See also the table on microscopic wood anatomy.

An evergreen, small to medium-sized tree up to 25 m tall; bole generally straight, cylindrical, up to 80 cm in diameter, with small buttresses; bark surface becoming irregularly cracked and flaking in small pieces, grey-brown, inner bark red-brown; crown rounded, dark green, young foliage covered with silvery silky hairs. Leaves arranged spirally, simple, entire, glabrous when mature; petiole canaliculate; stipules caducous. Inflorescence an axillary or terminal panicle of cymules. Flowers actinomorphic, with a campanulate tomentose receptacle; sepals 5, free; petals 5, about as large as the sepals; stamens 7-10, included and inserted unilaterally on the margin of the disk; ovary inserted at or near the base of the receptacle, 1-locular with 2 ovules, style basal. Fruit a small, stipitate, pear-shaped, bright red, fleshy drupe; endocarp hard, thin, splitting longitudinally upon germination.
In peninsular Thailand flowering takes place from March-April, whereas fruits have been observed in March-July; in Peninsular Malaysia flowering is in April-June. Other sources mention a period of 6-7 months for fruits to ripen. Single trees may not flower for 1-2 consecutive years. Fruits are dispersed by the fruit pigeon Ducula aenea.
The three Malesian species of Licania form the subgenus Angelesia (Korth.) Prance & F. White. The family Chrysobalanaceae is sometimes treated as a subfamily of the Rosaceae.

L. splendens is a fairly frequent tree of well-drained, primary and secondary lowland forest on hills and ridges, or sometimes in thickets, up to 400(-800) m altitude. It has been found in a wide variety of forest types including mixed dipterocarp forest, kerangas, peat-swamp forest, freshwater swamp forest, on seashores and rocky locations, but more frequently on sandy soils.

L. splendens is known to coppice well.

The fairly common occurrence of L. splendens and its reasonably wide geographic distribution suggest that the risk of genetic erosion is small.

L. splendens is expected to continue to be used for marine constructions, but increased utilization for other purposes is unlikely as the wood is extremely hard and very difficult to cut and saw.

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G.T. Prance

Prance, G.T., 1998. Licania Aubl.. 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