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Botanical Name
| Neobalanocarpus heimii King |
Genus | Neobalanocarpus |
Family | Dipterocarpaceae |
Distribution | N. heimii is widely distributed in the peninsula but, except from southern Pattani in Thailand, it has never been recorded outside it. It occurs in every state except Perlis and Melaka, and in diverse localities, on low-lying flat land as well as on hills up to 900 m. It is unaccountably absent from some localities, of scattered occurrence in others (about one tree over 30 cm diameter in a hectare), and in a few areas of limited extent there may be about eight trees of commercial size per hectare. From large tracts of accessible jungle this tree has been virtually exterminated, but some rich stands still exists in inaccessible localities and in forest reserves. Some almost pure young crops of cengal have been created by silvicultural operations. A strong population exists in the Pasoh Research Forest. It is, nevertheless, vulnerable through most of its range.
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Bole Characteristics | Large trees, specimens exceeding 3 m girth being common (one specimen over 12 m girth has been measured; this is the largest tree ever recorded in the Malay Peninsula (Setten 1956)); buttresses usually prominent for only a few feet above the ground; bole well shaped and clear for 30 m or more, or somewhat irregular and low-branched, dark colored, shallowly and irregularly longitudinally fissured, becoming shaggy in old specimens, bark falling in long scales, with occasional exudations of clear colorless or golden dammar; crown large and heavy.
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Herbarium Characteristics | Crisply papery in texture, oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, frequently unequal at the base, about 12 x 4 cm but varying very considerably, quite glabrous or sparsely pubescent on the nerves beneath, about 9-nerved, venation reticulate-scalariform, midrib slightly raised on the upper surface, drying greenish yellow or yellow-brown, petioles about 10 mm long.
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