5795

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

Mammea L.

Gen. pl., ed. 5: 288 (1754).

GUTTIFERAE

x = unknown; M. siamensis: 2n = 32

Mammea comprises about 50 species. A single species is distributed in the West Indies, the Guianas and tropical West Africa, some 15 are present in Madagascar and about 35 occur in the Asiatic tropics from India and Sri Lanka to Burma (Myanmar), Indo-China, Thailand, throughout the Malesian region and the Pacific islands, east to New Caledonia and Samoa. Some 20 species are present within Malesia.

The wood of Mammea is used for boat building (planks and pins), house posts, flooring and cabinet work.
M. americana is a fairly well-known fruit tree which has also been applied in Cuba as a wind-break and shelter-belt. The flowers of M. siamensis contain an aromatic oil for which it is cultivated, especially near Buddhist temples. In Thailand the leaves of M. siamensis are used as a fish poison and its pollen as a cosmetic. The heartwood of M. odorata yields a red dye, similar to that of Caesalpinia sappan L.

Utilization of Mammea wood is very limited and on a local scale only.

Mammea yields a heavy hardwood with a density of 920-1100 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content. Heartwood with pink or red tints or red-brown. Growth rings indistinct; vessels small to intermediate, visible to the naked eye, predominantly solitary, sometimes with tyloses; parenchyma paratracheal vasicentric with occasional aliform tendency, and apotracheal diffuse and diffuse-in-aggregates; rays fine, narrower than the vessels, with radial canals; ripple marks absent.
The wood is very strong and very durable when exposed to the weather or in contact with the ground.
See also the table on microscopic wood anatomy.

Glabrous, androdioecious shrubs or small trees up to 20 m tall; bole often gnarled, branchless for up to 5 m, up to 30 cm or rarely (M. americana) up to 100 cm in diameter, without buttresses; bark surface smooth, becoming fissured, scaly, lenticellate, brown or greyish-brown, inner bark brown or reddish-brown, exuding a little yellow or sometimes white latex; crown dense, irregular. Leaves decussate, simple, entire, leathery, with very close reticulation on both surfaces; stipules often reduced, needle-shaped, sometimes absent; interpetiolar leaves (hypsophylls) present. Flowers male or bisexual, solitary or fascicled in axils or on swellings on branches and/or the trunk; sepals fused but later splitting into 2 valves; petals usually 4, often white; stamens many, free; ovary superior, 4-locular with 1 ovule in each cell, style short, stigma peltate, 2(-4)-lobed. Fruit an indehiscent drupe, usually 1-seeded by abortion. Seed surrounded by a transparent pulp. Seedling with hypogeal germination; cotyledons not emergent; hypocotyl not elongated; all leaves decussate.
M. americana develops according to Rauh's architectural tree model, charachterized by a monopodial trunk which grows rhythmically and so develops tiers of branches. In Java trees of M. odorata flower almost throughout the year, whereas those of M. americana have been observed with flowers in December-June. Pollination is probably by insects and the fruits of M. americana and of the small M. aruana Kosterm. are dispersed by bats.
The genus Ochrocarpos Thouars has been included in Mammea.

Mammea occurs scattered in lowland rain forest, sometimes (notably M. odorata) along coasts.

M. americana is propagated by seed or by cuttings.

Many Mammea species are apparently rare, so they may be vulnerable to genetic erosion.

It is unlikely that the use of Mammea wood, being still little known, will increase.

[70]Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr., R.C., 1963-1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Wolters-Noordhoff, Groningen.
[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.
[209]Corner, E.J.H., 1988. Wayside trees of Malaya. 3rd edition. 2 volumes. The Malayan Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur. 774 pp.
[238]de Vogel, E.F., 1980. Seedlings of dicotyledons. Structure, development, types. Descriptions of 150 woody Malesian taxa. Pudoc, Wageningen. 465 pp.
[241]de Wilde, J.J.F.E., 1956. A delimitation of Mammea L. Acta Botanica Neerlandica 5: 171-178.
[402]Hallé, F., Oldeman, R.A.A. & Tomlinson, P.B., 1978. Tropical trees and forests - an architectural analysis. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York. 441 pp.
[403]Handbooks of the flora of Papua New Guinea (various editors), 1978-. Melbourne University Press, Carlton.
[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.).
[464]Ilic, J., 1990. The CSIRO macro key for hardwood identification. CSIRO, Highett. 125 pp.
[610]Kostermans, A.J.G.H., 1961. A monograph of the Asiatic and Pacific species of Mammea L. (Guttiferae). Pengumuman Lembaga Pusat Penjelidikan Kehutanan Indonesia No 72. 63 pp.
[737]Maheshwari, J.K., 1972. Morpho-taxonomic studies on Indian Guttiferae. The genera Mammea Linn. s.l. and Kayea Wall. In: Murty, Y.S. et al. (Editors): Advances in plant morphology. Sarita Prakashan, Meerut. pp. 137-152.
[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.
[1038]Smitinand, T., 1980. Thai plant names. Royal Forest Department, Bangkok. 379 pp.
[1057]Stevens, P.F., 1974. Mammea L. and Mesua L. (Guttiferae) in Papuasia. Australian Journal of Botany 22: 413-423.
[1123]van der Pijl, L., 1957. The dispersal of plants by bats (chiropterochory). Acta Botanica Neerlandica 6: 291-315.
[1164]Verheij, E.W.M. & Coronel, R.E. (Editors), 1991. Plant resources of South-East Asia No 2. Edible fruits and nuts. Pudoc, Wageningen. 446 pp.
[1169]Vidal, J., 1962. Noms vernaculaires de plantes en usage au Laos [Vernacular names of plants used in Laos]. Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient, Paris. 197 pp.
[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.

S.I. Wiselius

Mammea americana
Mammea novoguineensis
Mammea odorata
Mammea siamensis

Wiselius, S.I., 1998. Mammea L.. 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:
Mammea americana
Mammea novoguineensis
Mammea odorata
Mammea siamensis