6431

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

Turpinia Vent.

Mém. Cl. Sci. Math. Inst. Natl. France 1: 3 (1807).

STAPHYLEACEAE

x = 13; T. cochinchinensis (Lour.) Merr., T. pomifera (Roxb.) DC.: n = 13, T. nepalensis Wight & Arn.: n = 13, 14

Turpinia comprises some 40 species occurring in Central and South America and in the Asian tropics from Sri Lanka and India to Indo-China, southern China, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and throughout the Malesian region. It is represented in Malesia by 11 species.

The wood of Turpinia is of inferior quality and only exceptionally used for house building, but is reported to be used for furniture, household implements, packing cases, and in the Philippines for Venetian blinds, popsicle sticks and ice-cream spoons. The wood is suitable for the production of pulp and paper.
Wood extracts of T. ovalifolia showed anti-cancer activity against lymphoid leukaemia. In Papua New Guinea it is alleged that eating the leaves of T. pentandra with those of Zingiber prevents conception.

Because of the poor quality of Turpinia wood in combination with the limited supplies and its generally small dimensions, it is used only rarely and locally.

Turpinia yields a lightweight, sometimes medium-weight hardwood with a density of 360-560 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content. Heartwood whitish-yellow, not clearly differentiated from the sapwood; grain straight; texture fine to moderately fine; wood occasionally with streaks. Growth rings distinct, indicated by narrow to broad layers of darker coloured wood with relatively few vessels; vessels very small to moderately small, mostly solitary, occasionally in radial or oblique pairs, open; parenchyma sparse, scanty paratracheal tending to aliform, mostly indistinct even with a hand lens; rays very fine to moderately broad, the broader ones sometimes interrupted, conspicuous on radial surface; ripple marks absent.
The wood is fairly soft and of moderate strength. Rapid conversion is necessary to prevent blue stain and insect attack. The wood is non-durable. The heartwood of T. ovalifolia is susceptible to dry-wood termites. The sapwood is susceptible to Lyctus.
The mean fibre length of T. ovalifolia is 2.72 mm and of T. sphaerocarpa 3.62 mm.
See also the tables on microscopic wood anatomy and wood properties.

Evergreen shrubs or small to medium-sized trees up to 35 m tall; bole sometimes poorly shaped, branchless for up to 22 m, up to 60(-100) cm in diameter, sometimes with buttresses up to 6 m high; bark surface smooth to fissured or sometimes scaly, pale brown or yellowish-brown to dark brown or dark grey, inner bark fibrous, white to cream with orange to brown or red-brown mottles, with pleasant odour. Leaves decussate, imparipinnate, rachis with 2 glands near the insertion of the petiolules; leaflets 1-11, opposite, petiolulate, serrate, with 2 glands near the base of the blade; stipules interpetiolar. Flowers in an axillary or terminal raceme or panicle, 5-merous; sepals free; petals free, yellowish-green to greenish-white; stamens with broad filaments; disk annular; ovary superior, (2-)3(-4)-locular with 1-many ovules in each cell, styles closely appressed, forming 1 peltate stigma. Fruit a globose to 3-lobed, indehiscent berry, crowned by radial lines or horn-like structures. Seed mostly angular, with endosperm. Seedling with epigeal germination; cotyledons emergent; hypocotyl elongated.
In Borneo most species flower in November-May; in Java T. sphaerocarpa has been recorded flowering throughout the year; in the Philippines T. ovalifolia flowers from December to February. The disk of the sweet-scented flowers produces honey, probably attracting insects for pollination. Fruits take about 5 months to mature. The fruits are probably eaten and dispersed by birds and other animals.

Timber-yielding Turpinia species are found in evergreen, primary and secondary, lowland to montane rain forest, up to 2000(-2800) m altitude.

Turpinia can be propagated by seed; wildlings have been used in Java by the local population. T. sphaerocarpa has about 29 000 dry seeds/kg. Rhynchites beetles have been reported puncturing shoots of T. sphaerocarpa in Indonesia. Early this century T. sphaerocarpa was planted successfully on erosion-prone mountain slopes in Java and grew fairly fast but later records are not available.

As Turpinia is hardly used for timber and both its geographical and ecological distribution are fairly wide, it does not seem endangered.

It is unlikely that Turpinia timber will be increasingly used in the near future; its reportedly fast growth needs confirmation.

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U.A. Dasuki

Turpinia ovalifolia
Turpinia pentandra
Turpinia sphaerocarpa

Dasuki, U.A., 1998. Turpinia Vent.. 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:
Turpinia ovalifolia
Turpinia pentandra
Turpinia sphaerocarpa