Planchonia valida Blume

Trees, up to 50 m high, up to 2 m diam.; bole straight, almost cylindrical; buttresses up to 4 m high, 5 m outwards. Bark greyish brown, 2-6 mm thick, scaling off in small, irregular pieces; living bark 10-15 mm thick, beefy red outside, odourless, slightly bitter and astringent, dirty white inside; sapwood dirty white. Branchlets angular (young); leaf-scars distinct, leaf-traces of ten visible; bark smooth (fresh), striate when dry, with scattered lenticels, greyish brown, dark brown towards the apex. Stipules early caducous, inserted at the base of the petioles of very young leaves, subulate, c. 0.4 by 0.1 mm, tip very sharp. Leaves: blade elliptic to obovate, (3-)6-25(-35) by (2.5-)4.5-13 cm, papyraceous, turning red before falling, glossy, base slightly decurrent, petiole 1-2 cm, margin serrulate to bluntly denticulate, apex acuminate, acumen up to 1.5 cm long, obtuse; midrib strongly prominent on the lower surface, prominulous or flat above, nerves 12-22 pairs, making an angle of 60-70° with the midrib, prominent on the lower surface, flat above, arcuately anastomosing near the margin, usually branched, tertiary nerves distinct, irregular, reticulation dense, veinlets ending in a mucro near or at the tip of the tooth of the crenulation. Inflorescences racemes, generally many-flowered, up to 13.5 cm long, puberulous to glabrous; rachis 2-5(-7) mm thick; bracts oblong to semi-orbicular, 7.5-10(-15) by c. 5 mm. Pedicels 0.2-1 cm long, 2-5 mm thick, puberulous to glabrous; the two lowest pedicels often not subtended by bracts but by ordinary leaves. Calyx: tube campanulate, ribbed, puberulous to glabrous; lobes ovate, 7-10 by 4-8 mm, entire, coriaceous, pale green. Petals obovate-oblong, 15-35 by 7-10 mm, membranaceous, greenish, reflexed, base tapering, apex obtuse. Staminal tube c. 1 cm high, free part 25-45 mm, pink to red at the base, yellowish white higher up, the inner whorl yellowish white; anthers c. 1 by 0.75 mm. Disc a rim of c. 1 mm high. Style slender, 3-6 cm long. Fruits ovoid to ellipsoid, without basal neck, 3-4 by 1.5-2.5 cm, pale green; pericarp up to 7 mm thick, fibrous. Seeds 1-15, ovoid, 3-4-angular; seedcoat pale chocolate brown (dry), coriaceous, c. 0.5 mm thick; radicle spirally convolute.

An emergent tree of undisturbed mixed dipterocarp forests at elevations up to 300 metres. Mostly on hillsides and ridges, but also along rivers and on alluvial sites. In secondary forests usually present as a pre-disturbance remnant tree.

Uses The wood is useful and, therefore, it is recommended as replacement of teak in regions where it is too wet for teak, but not near stagnant water or marshes. The wood is easy to work and does not warp much (according to Keith 1947, warps a great deal if not carefully seasoned). It is a good to very good firewood; not very durable. It is used for house building, heavy constructions, poles, furniture and cabinet work, beams, joints, rafters, flooring, sheathing, panelling, bentwood work, ship-framing and vehicle shafts. Young leaves and red shoots are eaten as lalab (raw vegetables) or the steamed ones are mixed with fish and other spices. The plant is probably a fish poison as Barringtonia, but which part of the plant should be poisonous is not indicated ( Gresshoff Meded. Lands Plantentuin 10 1893 87 ). The species is devoid of saponins ( Boorsma Bull. Dépt. Agric. Indes Néerl. 16 1908 10 ).

Plants can be grown from seeds.