6308

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

Spondias L.

Sp. pl. 1: 371 (1753); Gen. pl., ed. 5: 174 (1754).

ANACARDIACEAE

x = 16; S. mombin: n = 16, S. pinnata: 2n = 32

Spondias (En). Indonesia: kedondong. Malaysia: kedondong. Thailand: ma-kok. Vietnam: c[os]c. Kedondong is the trade name for timber of the family Burseraceae, but is apparently also used for Spondias spp.

Spondias comprises 10 species occurring in tropical America and in India, Burma (Myanmar), Indo-China, southern China, Thailand, throughout the Malesian region and the Solomon Islands. Five species are present within Malesia. Four of them, S. cytherea, S. mombin, S. pinnata and S. purpurea are occasionally cultivated throughout the tropics, mainly for their edible fruits.

The wood of Spondias is used for mouldings, interior finish, drawers, core stock of plywood, pulp, but because of its lightness and softness more generally for e.g. matchsticks, matchboxes, boxes, crates, carving and turnery articles.
The fruits of several species are eaten raw or made into jams, jellies and juices. Young leaves and flower clusters are eaten as a vegetable and have a sour taste. The fruit of S. purpurea is used as an astringent and for the treatment of dysentery, diarrhoea and gonorrhoea. It is also reported to have some antimutagenic effects on mice. The fruits, leaves and bark are used medicinally in the treatment of wounds, sores and burns. Leaves are fed to cattle and fruits to pigs. Large stumps are planted as living fence posts and trees are occasionally planted for shade.

Supplies are limited and the timber is harvested mainly on a local scale. Small amounts of Spondias timber are imported by Japan, mainly from Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. In 1996 Papua New Guinea exported about 2865 m³ of Spondias logs at an average free-on-board (FOB) price of US$ 94/m³.

Spondias yields a lightweight hardwood with a density of (245-)320-480 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content. Heartwood pale yellow-brown to grey-brown, sometimes with a pink core, not clearly differentiated from the pale to grey sapwood, which can be up to 22 cm wide; grain straight, rarely interlocked; texture moderately coarse and even. Growth rings usually not distinct; vessels medium-sized to large, solitary, in radial multiples of 2-4 with a few clusters, open or occasionally with tyloses; parenchyma sparse, paratracheal vasicentric to aliform; rays medium-sized to moderately large, visible to the naked eye; ripple marks absent; radial canals present, but rather indistinct because the rays containing the canals are not enlarged.
Shrinkage of the wood upon seasoning is very low to low. It takes about 3 days to kiln dry 25 mm thick boards from green to 12% moisture content; boards with spiral grain or tension wood may twist or bow. The wood is very weak and soft, and very soft around the pith. It is easy to saw and convert, but logs with tension wood may show a woolly finish. It is difficult to obtain a smooth finish in planing. To prevent stain, felled logs must be rapidly extracted, converted and dried. The wood is non-durable, retention of preservatives by pressure treatment is 600-680 kg/m³ for sapwood and 505-630 kg/m³ for heartwood, but the heartwood is also reported as erratic to impregnation. The sapwood is susceptible to Lyctus. The heartwood is highly susceptible to blue stain, termite and marine borer attack. Wood dust may cause itching and inflammation of the eyelids.
See also the tables on microscopic wood anatomy and wood properties.

Wholly or partly deciduous, small to medium-sized or occasionally large trees up to 30(-45) m tall, rarely a hemi-epiphyte; bole branchless for up to 18 m, up to 100(-150) cm in diameter, spur-rooted or occasionally with small buttresses; bark surface smooth or shallowly furrowed to rugged with corky, spine-like projections and knobs, greyish to pale reddish-brown, inner bark pale brown, with pale yellow, watery exudate; crown compact. All parts with a turpentine smell when bruised. Leaves arranged spirally, imparipinnate, exstipulate; leaflets alternate to opposite, entire to serrate, usually with an intramarginal vein. Inflorescence axillary or terminal, paniculate or rarely racemose. Flowers bisexual, (4-)5-merous; calyx lobed; petals valvate; stamens 10 (or 8); disk intrastaminal; ovary superior, 1-locular or (4-)5-locular with a single ovule in each cell, styles (4-)5 and free, or 1. Fruit a drupe, smooth or ridged; endocarp woody to bony. Seed with testa free from endocarp. Seedling with epigeal germination; cotyledons emergent; hypocotyl elongated; first pair of leaves opposite, subsequent ones arranged spirally.
S. mombin develops according to Scarrone's architectural model, characterized by an indeterminate trunk bearing tiers of orthotropic branches which branch sympodially as a result of terminal flowering. The mean annual diameter increment of a 22-year-old S. pinnata tree in India was 1.1 cm. Flowers appear before or with the new leaves. In the humid tropics S. cytherea flowers and fruits almost continuously; under seasonal conditions flowering is concentrated in the dry season. In Java S. cytherea flowers in July-August and ripe fruits are available in January-April, whereas S. pinnata can be found flowering and fruiting in June-October. Flowers are pollinated by bees. Fruits are dispersed by bats.
The taxonomy of Spondias is very complex. Recently, Kostermans stated he regards S. pinnata as a species occurring from India to Indo-China, whereas the Malesian trees belong to 3 different species: S. acida Blume and S. malayana Kosterm. occurring in West Malesia, and S. novoguineensis found from the Moluccas eastward. He also treats wild material from the Philippines as a distinct species, S. negrosensis Kosterm., and different from S. purpurea that was introduced to the Philippines long ago from South America.

Spondias occurs scattered in primary forest, up to 1000 m altitude. It is usually found on well-drained sites but occasionally also in floodplains, along the inner border of tidal forest (S. mombin), and in drier habitats like teak forest, savanna and on limestone (S. pinnata).

Spondias can be propagated by seed, cuttings and air layering. Large cuttings of S. purpurea are used to establish live fences. Depulped fruits (stones) are used for sowing and one stone of S. pinnata contains 1-3 viable seeds. Seed viability may be retained for one year. There are about 250 fresh stones/kg. Sown fruits of S. cytherea have only 5-20% germination in 12-51 days. For S. pinnata, direct sowing proves better than planting bare-rooted seedlings. Stumps have also been successfully used for planting. S. pinnata is a light-demander and coppices well. S. cytherea is susceptible to severe attacks by caterpillars and by an unidentified beetle completely defoliating the trees; S. purpurea is liable to attacks of various insects.

As most Spondias species are planted for their fruits, conservation of their genetic resources seems safeguarded.

It is unlikely that Spondias wood will gain importance, primarily because of its poor quality, but as the fruits of most species are an important commodity, the wood may increasingly be used rather than wasted.

[40]All Nippon Checkers Corporation, 1989. Illustrated commercial foreign woods in Japan. Tokyo. 262 pp.
[122]Bolza, E., 1975. Properties and uses of 175 timber species from Papua New Guinea and West Irian. Report No 34. Division of Building Research, CSIRO, Melbourne. 35 pp.
[125]Bolza, E. & Kloot, N.H., 1966. The mechanical properties of 81 New Guinea timbers. Technological Paper No 41. Division of Forest Products, CSIRO, Melbourne. 39 pp.
[134]Bowers, E.A., 1977. Pressure treatment characteristics of 142 commercially important timbers from the southwest Pacific region. Technical paper (2nd series) No 143. Division of Building Research, CSIRO, Melbourne. 36 pp.
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[155]Budgen, B., 1981. The shrinkage and density of some Australian and South-east Asian timbers. Technical Paper (2nd series) No 38. Division of Building Research, CSIRO, Melbourne. 38 pp.
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[238]de Vogel, E.F., 1980. Seedlings of dicotyledons. Structure, development, types. Descriptions of 150 woody Malesian taxa. Pudoc, Wageningen. 465 pp.
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[341]Flora Malesiana (various editors), 1950-. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Boston, London.
[343]Flore du Cambodge, du Laos et du Viêtnam (various editors), 1960-. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris.
[348]Forest Products Research Centre, 1967. Properties and uses of Papua and New Guinea timbers. Forest Products Research Centre, Port Moresby. 30 pp.
[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.
[405]Hardjowasono, M.S., 1942. Gewicht en volume van verschillende vrucht- en zaadsoorten [Weight and volume of various fruits and seeds]. Korte Mededelingen No 20. Bosbouwproefstation, Buitenzorg. 172 pp.
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[536]Keating, W.G. & Bolza, E., 1982. Characteristics, properties and uses of timbers. Vol. 1. South-East Asia, northern Australia and the Pacific. Inkata Press Proprietary Ltd., Melbourne, Sydney & London. 362 pp.
[631]Kostermans, A.J.G.H., 1991. Kedondong, ambarella, amra, the Spondiadeae (Anacardiaceae) in Asia and the Pacific area. Bogor. 100 pp.
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D.S. Alonzo

Spondias cytherea
Spondias mombin
Spondias pinnata
Spondias purpurea

Alonzo, D.S., 1998. Spondias 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:
Spondias cytherea
Spondias mombin
Spondias pinnata
Spondias purpurea