6367

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

Ternstroemia Mutis ex L. f.

Suppl. pl.: 39, 264 (1782).

THEACEAE

x = unknown; T. gymnanthera: 2n = 50, n = 20

Tapmis (trade name).

Ternstroemia comprises about 100 species. Its main centre of distribution lies in Central and South America. Only 2 species are present in Africa. In Asia it extends from Sri Lanka, India and Burma (Myanmar) to Indo-China, China, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, the entire Malesian region, east to Fiji and south to north-eastern Australia. Some 35 species are present within Malesia.

The wood of Ternstroemia is used for light construction under cover, internal flooring, door and window frames, mouldings, furniture, mining timber, joinery, tool handles and shafts, carvings, toys, turnery and, when treated, is suitable for railway sleepers. It is also suitable for the production of veneer and plywood, and of pulp and paper.
The bark has been used as a fish poison and is still used in Irian Jaya against head lice. The fruit of T. cherryi is scraped and applied to cuts and sores.

Ternstroemia wood is probably used on a local scale only. The wood of T. gymnanthera is regarded as commercial in Taiwan and Japan, but not in the Malesian region.

Ternstroemia yields a medium-weight hardwood with a density of 530-790 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content. Heartwood pale reddish-brown to dark purple-brown, not differentiated from the paler sapwood; grain straight to slightly interlocked or irregular; texture fine and even; wood with faint silver grain on radial surface. Growth rings usually indistinct, but distinct in T. gymnanthera; vessels moderately small, usually angular, sometimes oval, solitary, but the overlapping ends of vessel members in a vertical series produce numerous oblique or tangential pairs; parenchyma sparse to moderately abundant, apotracheal diffuse and diffuse-in-aggregates, indistinct with a hand lens; rays tending to be of 2 distinct sizes, very fine and moderately fine to medium-sized, the broader ones conspicuous on radial surface and visible with the naked eye on the transverse section; ripple marks absent.
Shrinkage upon seasoning is moderate to very high. The wood seasons easily but it has a marked tendency to distort. The wood is moderately hard, fairly weak to strong and very stiff to bend. It is easy to work with all hand and machine tools, has a slightly lustrous finish and takes a high polish. The weathering and wearing properties are reasonably good. The wood of Ternstroemia is only moderately durable, that of T. gymnanthera is fairly resistant to termites. The sapwood is rarely susceptible to Lyctus.
The mean fibre length of T. gymnanthera wood is 1.44-2.06 mm.
See also the table on microscopic wood anatomy.

Usually evergreen, dioecious or rarely monoecious, sometimes androdioecious or andromonoecious shrubs or trees up to 30(-35) m tall; bole straight, cylindrical, branchless for up to 20 m, up to 60(-100) cm in diameter, sometimes fluted or rarely with small buttresses at base; bark surface smooth or cracking into scales or flaking, grey to brown, bark often corky, inner bark hard, gritty, red-brown, pink to orange. Leaves arranged spirally, often congested at the end of twigs and in false whorls, simple, entire, exstipulate. Flowers axillary, solitary or in a small fascicle of 2-3, unisexual or occasionally bisexual, with 2 bracteoles, 5-merous; sepals persistent; petals joined at base; stamens many, the outer ones attached to the base of the corolla, anthers basifixed; ovary superior, 2-3-locular, sometimes with false septae, with (1-)2-20 ovules in each cell, style simple or forked. Fruit an irregularly dehiscent berry with arillate seeds. Seedling with epigeal germination; cotyledons emergent, sometimes scale-like; hypocotyl elongated and swollen; first and sometimes second pair of leaves opposite, subsequent ones alternate-spiral, conduplicate and finely toothed.
T. merrilliana develops according to Aubréville's architectural tree model, characterized by a monopodial trunk with rhythmic growth bearing tiers of modular branches; the modules grow indefinitely, as inflorescences are lateral. T. wallichiana grows in short flushes, even in the seedling stage, with each flush starting with a few scale leaves. In Java T. elongata flowers throughout the year whereas T. penangiana has been observed bearing flowers in November and December only.
The Asian members of Ternstroemia are in urgent need of a taxonomic revision. At present the taxonomic and floristic information is scarce and very scattered, and often of dubious reliability.

Most timber-yielding Ternstroemia species inhabit lowland to montane, evergreen, primary rain forest, up to 1700(-2350) m altitude. They are particularly often reported from poor soils, swamps and ultrabasic locations. Some species, notably T. gymnanthera, extend their ecological range to thickets and bushy grasslands, and to monsoon and deciduous forest.

Ternstroemia may be raised from seed. Seeds of T. bancana show about 90% germination in 10-30 days, T. wallichiana seed sown with adhering pulp has only 15% germination in 31-45 days.

The risk of genetic erosion of Ternstroemia is related to the extent of destruction of its habitat.

When carefully seasoned, the wood of Ternstroemia may gain some importance for purposes where a hard and stiff wood is required but supplies are extremely limited.

[18]Airy Shaw, H.K., 1939. LII - Additions to the flora of Borneo and other Malay islands: XIII. The Theaceae and Symplocaceae of the Oxford University Expedition to Sarawak, 1932. Kew Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information 1939: 504-509.
[70]Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr., R.C., 1963-1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Wolters-Noordhoff, Groningen.
[92]Barker, W.R., 1980. Taxonomic revisions in Theaceae in Papuasia I. Gordonia, Ternstroemia, Adinandra and Archboldiodendron. Brunonia 3: 1-60.
[93]Bärner, J., 1942-1961. Die Nutzhölzer der Welt [Timbers of the world]. 4 volumes. J. Neumann, Neudamm.
[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.
[198]Cockburn, P.F., 1976-1980. Trees of Sabah. 2 volumes. Sabah Forest Records No 10. Forest Department Sabah, Sandakan.
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[267]Desch, H.E., 1941-1954. Manual of Malayan timbers. Malayan Forest Records No 15. 2 volumes. Malaya Publishing House Ltd., Singapore. 762 pp.
[304]Eddowes, P.J., 1995-1997. The forests and timbers of Papua New Guinea. (unpublished data).
[364]Gamble, J.S., 1922. A manual of Indian timbers. 2nd edition. Sampsom Low, Marston & Company, London. 868 pp.
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[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.).
[443]Holdsworth, D.K., 1977. Medicinal plants of Papua New Guinea. Technical Paper No 175. South Pacific Commission, Noumea, New Caledonia. 123 pp.
[464]Ilic, J., 1990. The CSIRO macro key for hardwood identification. CSIRO, Highett. 125 pp.
[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.
[580]Kobuski, C.E., 1961. Studies in the Theaceae, XXXII. A review of the genus Ternstroemia in the Philippine islands. Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 42: 263-275.
[581]Kobuski, C.E., 1963. Studies in the Theaceae, XXXIV. Some Asiatic taxa of Ternstroemia. Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 44: 421-433.
[595]Koorders, S.H. & Valeton, T., 1894-1915. Bijdrage tot de kennis der boomsoorten van Java [Contribution to the knowledge of the tree species of Java]. 13 parts. G. Kolff & Co., Batavia, 's-Gravenhage.
[701]Liang, D. & Baas, P., 1991. The wood anatomy of the Theaceae. IAWA Bulletin n.s. 12: 333-353.
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[829]Ng, F.S.P., 1991-1992. Manual of forest fruits, seeds and seedlings. 2 volumes. Malayan Forest Record No 34. Forest Research Institute Malaysia, Kepong. 997 pp.
[831]Ng, F.S.P. & Mat Asri Ngah Sanah, 1991. Germination and seedling records. Research Pamphlet No 108. Forest Research Institute Malaysia, Kepong. 191 pp.
[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.
[933]Research Institute of Wood Industry, 1988. Identification, properties and uses of some Southeast Asian woods. Chinese Academy of Forestry, Wan Shou Shan, Beijing & International Tropical Timber Organization, Yokohama. 201 pp.
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S.I. Wiselius (general part), M.S.M. Sosef (selection of species)

Ternstroemia bancana
Ternstroemia cherryi
Ternstroemia coriacea
Ternstroemia elongata
Ternstroemia gitingensis
Ternstroemia gymnanthera
Ternstroemia magnifica
Ternstroemia merrilliana
Ternstroemia microcalyx
Ternstroemia penangiana
Ternstroemia philippinensis
Ternstroemia robinsonii
Ternstroemia urdanatensis
Ternstroemia wallichiana

Wiselius, S.I. & Sosef, M.S.M., 1998. Ternstroemia Mutis ex L. f.. 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:
Ternstroemia bancana
Ternstroemia cherryi
Ternstroemia coriacea
Ternstroemia elongata
Ternstroemia gitingensis
Ternstroemia gymnanthera
Ternstroemia magnifica
Ternstroemia merrilliana
Ternstroemia microcalyx
Ternstroemia penangiana
Ternstroemia philippinensis
Ternstroemia robinsonii
Ternstroemia urdanatensis
Ternstroemia wallichiana