Tree up to 25 m by 80(-100) cm, easily producing coppice shoots. Bark grey, usually pale, fissured. Buttresses none or small. Leaves coriaceous, obovate, elliptic, broad-elliptic, to suborbic-ular, 8-14.5 by 5.5-9 cm, apex rounded, base cuneate; nerves 6-10 pairs, slightly elevated beneath, flat above; petiole 7.5-15 mm. Young leaves dark red; fallen leaves usually drying grey above and yellowish below. Inflorescences 1.5-6.5 cm peduncled, including the latter up to 9 cm long; pedicels c. 6 mm. Flowers yellow. Calyx lobes ovate, obtuse, 2½-4 by 2 mm, outside lepidote in the apical part, slightly ciliate on the margin. Petals c. 2 mm long. Stamens inserted between the lobes of the disk, filament filiform, c. 2-2.5 mm; anther ovoid, versatile. Disk annular, obscurely 6-lobed. Ovary c. 2 mm; fruit including the wings 1.5-2 by 2-3 cm, wings semicircular, membranous, with parallel, transverse veins. Seed elongate-fusiform.
From near sea-level up to 100 m, on sandy soils, peat swamps, freshwater swamps, and along the coast.A distinctly gregarious tree of fairly large size confined to coastal swamp forest common from Borneo to Palembang and adjacent islands, in Brunei associated with Dactylocladus & Gony-stylus, in Palembang with Campnosperma & Shorea albida.According to Browne ( Browne For. Trees Sar. & Brun. 1955 7 ) it may be dominant in the peat-forests 'padang paya' of Sarawak and Brunei in similar places as Shorea albida var. or as a co-dominant of Sh. albida (alan); he says it also occurs on dry kerangas soils and in the mixed swamp forest type ( Browne For. Trees Sar. & Brun. 1955 303 ). Over considerable areas, particularly in Baram and Brunei, it may average more than 5 large trees per ha. Stems of old trees are in some localities hollow and produce upward curved, short 'hunger roots' in the lower part of the bole from fissures in the bark. Generally it is small-sized but this is often compensated by abundance.In South Sumatra Endert (I. c.) found it in peat-forests in the Musi delta associated with Campnosperma macrophylla and Shorea sp.Keruntum coppices are remarkably vigourous, and posts used for fencing and similar purposes often take roots and sprout (cf. Browne For. Trees Sar. & Brun. 1955 303 ); the young red leaves of the coppices are conspicuous. Branches of wind-blown trees may easily take root and when the old stem in the course of time disintegrates, there may be eventually 4-6 young trees standing in its place, a most remarkable way of vegetative reproduction ( Browne For. Trees Sar. & Brun. 1955 303 t. 41 Diels & Hackenberg Bot. Jahrb. 60 1926 295 ).
More
Occurs most abundantly in secondary forest or forest with an open canopy, but there the trees are often small and of poor form. In Sarawak well-developed trees are found in peat-swamp forest associated with Shorea albida.
Uses. The reddish-brown heart-wood is fairly hard and heavy; logs sink in water. It is locally highly favoured for heavy interior construction; strength properties appear to be roughly equivalent to those of teak or merbau, easy to saw and work. It has a reputation for durability under cover. Large supplies are available and it deserves much more attention than it now receives (Browne).
Home
