6450

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

Walsura Roxb.

Fl. ind. (Carey ed.) 2: 386 (1832).

MELIACEAE

x = unknown; W. trifoliolata (A. Juss.) Harms: 2n = 28

Walsura comprises about 16 species occurring from Sri Lanka, India and Burma (Myanmar) to Indo-China, the Andaman Islands, southern China, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo, the Philippines, the Moluccas (Halmahera) and New Guinea (Irian Jaya). W. pinnata is the most widespread species.

Walsura wood is used locally for general construction and is excellent for interior work. It has been used in the production of pulp and, when mixed with pulp of other species, good-quality writing paper can be manufactured. In the Philippines the wood of W. pinnata is considered a substitute for "guijo"" (Shorea guiso (Blanco) Blume).
In Peninsular Malaysia the bark of W. pinnata has been used as one of the components of a decoction against diarrhoea and dysentery.

As the supplies of Walsura timber are only limited, utilization is on a local scale only. It may occasionally be encountered in mixed consignments of hardwood.

Walsura yields a heavy hardwood with a density of about 1005 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content. Heartwood red to orange-brown, not clearly differentiated from the paler or pink sapwood; grain interlocked or wavy; texture fine. Growth rings visible with a hand lens indicated by marginal parenchyma and slightly darker-coloured wood; vessels very small to small, solitary and in radial multiples of 2-3, sometimes with oblique tendency, open or with chalky white deposits; parenchyma moderately abundant and visible to the naked eye, mainly the paratracheal type forming incomplete borders to the vessels and confluent in wavy, interrupted layers, when more continuous and straight appearing marginal; rays very fine; ripple marks absent. The wood is difficult to distinguish from that of Aglaia species which tends to be coarser.
The wood seasons well. It is very hard and strong. It is fairly difficult to work but takes a very high finish. The wood is moderately durable under exposed conditions or in contact with the ground. When under cover it is resistant to dry-wood termites. The sapwood is non-susceptible to Lyctus.
See also the table on microscopic wood anatomy.

Small to medium-sized trees up to 25(-37) m tall; bole branchless for up to 11(-24) m, up to 75(-150) cm in diameter, sometimes fluted or with small buttresses at base; bark surface smooth or shallowly fissured, becoming scaly, lenticellate, light grey-brown to dark grey-brown or blackish, inner bark pink to pink-red or pink-brown. Indumentum of simple and/or 2-armed hairs. Leaves arranged spirally, unifoliolate or imparipinnate and 1-4-jugate with opposite, entire leaflets, exstipulate. Flowers in an axillary thyrse, bisexual and male or unisexual (and then trees dioecious), (4-)5(-6)-merous; calyx with triangular lobes; petals free; filaments free or united into a tube below, with a truncate or bifid apex; disk annular; ovary superior, 2-locular with 2 ovules in each cell, stigma capitate to short and cylindrical. Fruit a 1-2(-4)-seeded berry or weakly dehiscent capsule. Seed with a transparent fleshy aril. Seedling with hypogeal germination; cotyledons not emergent; hypocotyl not elongated; all leaves arranged spirally, first few simple or 3-foliolate.
Trees show sympodial branching. Glands exuding a sweet colourless liquid are present on the lower leaf surfaces and are regarded as extrafloral nectaries. The flowers are probably insect-pollinated. The fruits are readily eaten by birds and gibbons which disperse the seeds.
Recently, a species formerly accommodated in Walsura was segregated and placed in a separate genus, mainly on the basis of the absence of a disk and the 4-5-locular ovary. The wood of this species, Pseudoclausena chrysogyne (Miq.) T.P. Clark (synonyms: Walsura chrysogyne (Miq.) Bakh. f., Walsura multijuga King), has been used for house building and carrying sticks in Peninsular Malaysia.

Walsura species occur scattered, usually as sub-canopy trees in primary evergreen, semi-evergreen or semi-deciduous rain forest. In Peninsular Malaysia they are rare, and found up to 600 m altitude.

Walsura can be propagated by seed. W. pinnata seed was found to germinate in 2-6 months.

Both W. pinnata and W. robusta are widespread and not particularly endangered. W. pachycaulon Mabb. ex T.P. Clark is an uncommon endemic species of Sabah and Sarawak and may be subject to genetic erosion or extinction due to logging activities and destruction of its habitat.

As the supplies of Walsura wood are only limited, its importance in utilization and trade is unlikely to increase.

[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.
[197]Clark, T.P., 1944. The species of Walsura and Pseudoclausena genus novum (Meliaceae). Blumea 38: 247-302.
[267]Desch, H.E., 1941-1954. Manual of Malayan timbers. Malayan Forest Records No 15. 2 volumes. Malaya Publishing House Ltd., Singapore. 762 pp.
[341]Flora Malesiana (various editors), 1950-. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Boston, London.
[632]Kraemer, J.H., 1951. Trees of the western Pacific region. Tri-State Offset Company, Cincinnatti. 436 pp.
[780]Meniado, J.A. et al., 1975-1981. Wood identification handbook for Philippine timbers. 2 volumes. Government Printing Office, Manila. 370 pp. & 186 pp.
[825]Ng, F.S.P., 1978. Strategies of establishment in Malayan forest trees. In: Tomlinson, P.B. & Zimmermann, M.H. (Editors): Tropical trees as living systems. The proceedings of the fourth Cabot symposium held at Harvard Forest, Petersham, Massachusetts on April 26-30, 1976. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, London, New York, Melbourne. pp. 129-162.
[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.
[878]Pennington, T.D. & Styles, B.T., 1975. A generic monograph of the Meliaceae. Blumea 22: 419-540.
[934]Reyes, L.J., 1938. Philippine woods. Technical Bulletin No 7. Commonwealth of the Philippines, Department of Agriculture and Commerce. Bureau of Printing, Manila. 536 pp. + 88 plates.
[1038]Smitinand, T., 1980. Thai plant names. Royal Forest Department, Bangkok. 379 pp.
[1169]Vidal, J., 1962. Noms vernaculaires de plantes en usage au Laos [Vernacular names of plants used in Laos]. Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient, Paris. 197 pp.
[1221]Whitmore, T.C. & Ng, F.S.P. (Editors), 1972-1989. Tree flora of Malaya. A manual for foresters. 4 volumes. Malayan Forest Records No 26. Longman Malaysia Sdn. Berhad, Kuala Lumpur & Petaling Jaya.

E. Boer (general part), M.S.M. Sosef (general part, selection of species)

Walsura pinnata
Walsura robusta

Boer, E. & Sosef, M.S.M., 1998. Walsura Roxb.. 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:
Walsura pinnata
Walsura robusta