5908

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

Murraya J. König ex L.

Mant. pl. 2: 544, 563 (1771).

RUTACEAE

x = 9; M. exotica L., M. koenigii, M. paniculata: 2n = 18

Andaman satinwood, Burmese boxwood, Chinese myrtle (En). Malaysia: kemuning (trade name). Philippines: kamuning (general). Cambodia: xantroc. Laos: doc ki be. Vietnam: c[uwr]u ly h[uw][ow]ng, cut di, ng[eej]t gu[ees].

Murraya comprises about 15 species which are distributed from Sri Lanka and India to Indo-China, southern China and Taiwan towards Thailand and throughout the Malesian region to north-eastern Australia and New Caledonia. Four species are present within Malesia, but one, or perhaps two, have been introduced.

The wood, especially the root wood, has a very nice figure and is one of the most highly prized woods for small, decorative objects like kris handles and sheaths, walking sticks, paperweights, inlaying, chessmen and flutes.
M. exotica is planted as an ornamental because of its scented flowers and shiny dark green leaves. Leaves of M. koenigii and M. paniculata yield an essential oil. Those of M. koenigii are an essential ingredient in curries. The leaves, fruits and bark of M. paniculata and M. exotica are used medicinally against venereal diseases, intestinal worms, and dysentery; the leaves are also reported as an ingredient in an infusion against irregular menstruation and leucorrhoea. The bark and roots have been used in Burma (Myanmar) as a face powder. The pleasantly scented flowers have been used for decoration and in cosmetics. Ripe fruits are eaten raw and have a sweet taste.

The root wood is locally considered the best of all woods for the specialty uses mentioned above. As the supplies are often extremely limited, the wood fetches high prices and is sold by the piece.

Murraya yields a heavy hardwood with a density of 1020-1120 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content. Heartwood greyish-brown or dark yellow with dark olive or black shades, sharply demarcated from the pale yellow or buff-coloured up to 4 cm wide sapwood; grain straight, but curly or wavy at base of trunk; texture very fine and even; wood lustrous. Growth rings visible, indicated by marginal parenchyma; vessels very small to moderately small, solitary and in radial multiples of 2-4, in occasional clusters, open or with yellow, gum-like deposits, occasionally with tyloses; parenchyma abundant, apotracheal in marginal or seemingly marginal bands, some layers running diagonally between marginal layers producing false growth rings, visible to the naked eye, and scanty paratracheal, visible with a hand lens; rays very fine, visible with a hand lens; ripple marks absent; wood occasionally with pith flecks.
The wood seasons slowly and is inclined to check in the log and to split; it is reported from India to be a very refractory timber to season. The wood is hard to very hard and very strong. It is fairly easy to work and can be cut smoothly, although it is not easy to work with hand tools. The wood is durable to very durable. The heartwood is resistant to dry-wood termites. The sapwood is non-susceptible to Lyctus.
The main component of the oil obtained from the leaves is cadimene.
See also the tables on microscopic wood anatomy and wood properties.

Shrubs or small trees up to 15(-20) m tall; bole often forking low, branchless for up to 3 m, up to 40(-60) cm in diameter, fluted at base; bark thin, the surface smooth, whitish to pale greyish, inner bark yellow. Leaves arranged spirally, imparipinnate, 1-4(-12)-jugate, or rarely unifoliolate, exstipulate; leaflets alternating, articulated at base, with pellucid dots. Flowers in an axillary or terminal panicle, cyme or corymb, bisexual, 5-merous; sepals fused at base; petals linear to oblanceolate, imbricate; stamens 10; disk annular to cylindrical; ovary superior, 2-5-carpellate with (1-)2 ovules per locule, style slender. Fruit a glandular berry with 1-2 developed locules. Seed with a membranous coat. Seedling with epigeal germination; cotyledons emergent, fleshy; hypocotyl elongated; first 2 leaves opposite and simple, subsequent leaves alternate and increasingly compound.
A 44-year-old M. paniculata tree in the Arboretum of the Forest Research Institute Malaysia, Kepong measured 17 m in height and 44 cm in diameter, while another tree was 15 cm in diameter by the age of 12 years. However, it has also been reported that the rate of growth is rather slow. M. koenigii and M. paniculata are evergreen. Flowering is induced by chilling the bud initials. M. paniculata is a night-flowering tree; in India it flowers from March-May and from July-October. Flowers are protandrous. Anthesis occurs between 20.00 h and 23.00 h while stigmas became receptive approximately 11 hours after the flowers open. It is a strictly cross-pollinated species. Pollination is by wind.
M. exotica has long been regarded as a synonym or just a variety of M. paniculata, but it now appears to represent a distinct species.

M. paniculata is found in evergreen, lowland and hill rain forest, usually on rocky soils or limestone, up to 600 m altitude, but it is more often encountered in cultivation.

Murraya can be propagated by air layering and by seed. Seeds should be sown immediately after harvesting, since they are no longer viable after being stored for 3 weeks. They can be sown in the shade, without pretreatment. M. paniculata seeds have a germination rate of about 75% in 13-20 days, M. exotica seeds start to germinate after 16 days and 80% of the germinating seeds having appeared 27 days after sowing; total germination is about 90%. In a test in India, however, germination of M. paniculata was only 40-45% in 4-7 days.

As the timber-yielding Murraya species are comparatively widespread and frequently cultivated they do not seem to be endangered. Indiscriminate exploitation of the valuable wood, however, may impair the genetic resources.

Because of the highly valuable wood, trials to determine the suitability of Murraya for plantation establishment are justified.

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Ha Van Tue

Murraya exotica
Murraya koenigii
Murraya paniculata

Tue, H.V., 1998. Murraya J. König ex 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:
Murraya exotica
Murraya koenigii
Murraya paniculata