Ctenolophon parvifolius Oliv.

Tree, 12-40 m, 15-120 cm diam., buttressed. Twigs with distinct leaf-scars and thickened at the insertion of the buds, glabrous. Innovations marginally and apically tufted-hairy, hairs to 1 mm long. Stipules boat-shaped, triangular to ovate, 1.5-2.5(-3) by 1-1.5 mm; entire, apex rounded to emarginate. Leaves glabrous, narrowly ovate to elliptic, sometimes obovate, often with ± parallel margins, 5-15 by 2-6 cm; base broadly cuneate, sometimes rounded; margin often ± thickened; apex broadly acute to obtusely acuminate, sometimes rounded, acumen to 2.5 cm; nerves (5—)7—10(—12) pairs, slightly curving upwards to near the margin, often meeting in 1 (or 2) looped intramarginal veins; reticulation rather lax to dense; petiole sulcate above, 4—10(—15) mm. Panicles rather densely flowered, terminal and up to 7 together, or 2-3 in the axil of a leaf near the end of the twigs, sometimes ramiflorous, up to 3 times branched, broadly ovoid to depressed obovoid, 3—9(—16) cm long. Axes patently tufted hairy, especially above the nodes. Bracts caducous just below the articulation, densely or sparsely appressed-ly to patently tufted-hairy without, especially on margin and midrib, more or less boat-shaped, narrowly ovate-liguliform to triangular, 1-3.5 by 0.5-1.7 mm; base with a row of bristles within. Pedicel articulate, grooved, swollen in fruit, l-1.5(-2.5) mm. Hypanthium thickened. Sepals appressed, densely appressedly to patently tufted-hairy to (the inner 3 marginally) glabrous, glabrous within but inner base with a row of up to 0.8 mm long bristles, boat-shaped, obovate to depressed ovate, ciliate, 1-2.5 by 1.5-4.7 mm, the outer two smallest. Petals recurved and more or less twisted in anthesis, stout, thin-leathery, densely appressedly tufted-hairy without except the overlapping margin and the base, glabrous within, slightly asymmetric, narrowly elliptic to narrowly ovate, 7-12 by 2-2.5 mm; claw absent or indistinct, at most 1 by 1 mm; margin sometimes with simple hairs towards its base. Disk membranous or slightly fleshy, cup-shaped, 1-1.5 mm high; margin often more or less dentate to undulate. Stamens inserted halfway up to just below the margin of the disk, short filaments 3.7-6.5 mm, long filaments 4.5-7.5 mm. Pistil up to halfway the style covered with straight, up to 2 mm long simple hairs; style straight, rather stout, slightly flattened, equalling to up to 3 mm exceeding the long stamens, sometimes as long as the short stamens, 5-10 mm long. Ovary ± constricted at base, ellipsoid to ovoid, 1.5-3 by 1-2 mm. Fruit 1-celled, densely appressedly tufted-hairy, ellipsoid to obovoid, 13-24 by 6-13 mm, sometimes basally curved; pericarp woody, ribbed, smooth inside, consisting of 4 layers, 1.5-2 mm diam. Seed ellipsoid to obovoid, 12-20 by 5-9 mm, dangling from a filiform columella (10—)15—20 mm long; hilum apical, slightly protruding from testa, obtriangular, 4-7 by 2-2.5 mm; arilloid from slightly above the base up to around the hilum, oblong triangular, up to 5 by 5 mm, with hair-like papillae which are reddish when dry, surrounded by a gelatinous transparent layer. Testa 0.1-0.2 mm thick, outer layer smooth, crustaceous, dark olive-brown to purple black when dry, sometimes fissured, finally covered by a thin membrane; second and third layer red-brown, free from the outer wall. Endosperm fleshy, spongy. Embryo stout; cotyledons elliptic to obo-vate, 8-10.5 by 4.7-5 mm; radicle (l-)2-2.5 mm long.

Mixed primary forest, also in heath and swamp forest, indifferent to soils (latosols, humic podsols, loam, ultrabasic) and also frequent on sand (Banka, Borneo), locally common to sometimes very common in lowland and on hills, generally below 850 m, but in Borneo rarely up to 1650 m. Fl. fr. Feb.-Dec. Fig. 2.

Uses. The hard and very durable timber is used for house construction and as general purpose timber (SCHNEIDER, 1916; RIDLEY, 1922; DESCH, 1954; BURKILL, 1966).

Can be grown by seedlings.