6132

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

Polyscias J.R. Forster & J.G. Forster

Charact. gen. pl.: 63, t. 32 (1776).

ARALIACEAE

x = 12; P. fruticosa (L.) Harms, P. scutellaria (Burm. f.) Fosberg: 2n = 24, P. guilfoylei (Cogn. & Marché) L.H. Bailey: 2n = 24, 36

Malapapaya (trade name). Indonesia: kambowa (Sulawesi), ki langit (Sundanese), pata tulan (Ambon). Philippines: bias-bias (Tagalog), bungliu (Tagalog), panalatangen (Pangasinan).

Polyscias comprises about 100 species occurring throughout the Old World tropics, including Australia and the islands in the Pacific. Within the Malesian region 23 species are found, most of which occur in New Guinea. The genus was originally absent from Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra, but several species have been introduced there. The principal Malesian species yielding timber is P. nodosa (Blume) Seem. (synonym: Eupteron nodosa (Blume) Miq.) which occurs in Java, the Lesser Sunda Islands, Sulawesi, the Philippines, the Moluccas, New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago.

In Malesia the wood of Polyscias is apparently only used commercially in the Philippines, where it is regarded as one of the best woods for small objects like boxes, matches, pencil slats, popsicle sticks, toothpicks, chopsticks and ice-cream spoons. It has also been used for wooden shoes, fence posts and handles for rice-knives. Large diameter logs are suitable for veneer and plywood production.
In Mindanao the leaves of P. nodosa have been used medicinally against purpuric fever and as a contraceptive. Pounded leaves, mixed with ash have also been applied as a fish poison. Several non-timber Polyscias species are used as ornamentals, and the leaves are sometimes applied medicinally, or serve as a vegetable or cosmetic.

As the supply of Polyscias wood is very limited, it is only used on a local scale.

P. nodosa yields a lightweight hardwood with a density of 300-515 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content. Heartwood pale to pinkish buff, not clearly differentiated from the sapwood; grain straight; texture fine and even. Growth rings generally indistinct, occasionally visible to the naked eye, marked by darker and denser woody tissue; vessels moderately small to medium-sized, solitary and in radial multiples of 2-3, in oblique or tangential pairs, or in occasional clusters; parenchyma scanty paratracheal to vasicentric, mostly indistinct; rays moderately broad, distinct to the naked eye on all surfaces; ripple marks absent.
Shrinkage of the wood is high, it seasons well and warping and checking is negligible. The wood is weak and soft. It is easy to work and fairly durable for interior work, but very perishable when exposed to the weather or in contact with the ground, having an average service life of less than one year in graveyard tests. The wood is susceptible to dry-wood termites. The sapwood is susceptible to Lyctus.
The leaves contain a poisonous saponinaceous substance.
See also the tables on microscopic wood anatomy and wood properties.

A small to medium-sized tree up to 25(-30) m tall; bole branchless for up to 15(-18) m, up to 60 cm in diameter, without buttresses; bark surface with vertical lines, pale grey to brown, inner bark very brittle, white with yellow rays; crown sparsely branched, branches slender and rather flexuous, crowned with large leaves. Leaves arranged spirally, crowded at the end of branches, imparipinnate, multijugate, exstipulate, large; petiole with a short basal sheath; rachis articulated; leaflets sessile, slightly crenate. Inflorescence a large terminal panicle, sometimes with several axillary branches below. Flowers small, in capitula which are borne racemosely along the secondary inflorescence branches; pedicel articulated below the ovary; calyx a minute persistent rim only; petals 5, valvate, yellow; disk present; ovary inferior, 5-locular with a single ovule in each cell, styles 5, spreading and reflexed in fruit. Fruit a subglobose yellowish-red drupe.
In secondary forest in the Philippines the average annual diameter increment of P. nodosa for the diameter class 5-10 cm is estimated at 1.7 cm. Trees flower throughout the year.
Polyscias is divided into several sections. P. nodosa belongs to the section Eupteron (Miq.) Philipson which is characterized by the imparipinnate or bipinnate leaves, the flowers in umbellules or capitula and the divergent style arms.

P. nodosa is found scattered in primary or more often in secondary evergreen or deciduous forest, sometimes in dipterocarp forest or in thickets, up to 1000 m altitude. It occurs on permanently moist or periodically dry soils; also found on chalk.

Propagation of P. nodosa from seed is possible. The fruits contain small seeds and should be picked from the trees. In the Philippines a spacing of 1 m x 1 m proved satisfactory for the production of wood for matchsticks, pencil slats and other small articles. A spacing of 3 m x 3 m is recommended for the production of timber for rotary-cut veneer. The fungus Fusarium solani was found to attack stored seeds.

There is no record of ex situ conservation of P. nodosa. As it is often found in secondary vegetation there seems to be no danger of genetic erosion.

P. nodosa seems to have good prospects as a fast producer of a comparatively soft wood, but its silvicultural characteristics need further investigation in order to be able to benefit fully from this resource.

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[891]Philipson, W.R., 1978. A synopsis of the Malesian species of Polyscias (Araliaceae). Blumea 24: 169-172.
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E. Boer & M.S.M. Sosef

Boer, E. & Sosef, M.S.M., 1998. Polyscias J.R. Forster & J.G. Forster. 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