Common Name:

General Information

Dysoxylum excelsum is an evergreen plant, ranging in size from a shrub to a fairly large tree up to 35 metres tall, with occasional specimens reaching a height of 47 metres[]. The bole is variable in shape with a diameter of up to 80cm (occasionally to 150cm), usually branchless for up to 20 metres, sometimes with buttresses up to 3 or even 5 metres high and 2.5 metres outwards, and sometimes fluted at the base[, ].
The tree is exploited in the wild for its valuable timber, which is traded internationally. The tree also supplies food and medicines for the local people.

Known Hazards

The bark shows piscicidal and insecticidal properties and is sometimes poisonous to humans[].

Botanical References

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Range

E. Asia - China, Indian subcontinent, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Laos, Philippines, New Guinea, Solomon Islands.

Habitat

In undisturbed mixed dipterocarp to sub-montane forests at elevations up to 1,100 metres[]. On alluvial sites near or along rivers and streams. In secondary forests usually present as a pre-disturbance remnant[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Evergreen Tree
Height	20.00 m
Pollinators	Insects
Self-fertile	No
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

A plant of low to moderate elevations in the tropics. Succeeding from sea level up to around 1,500 metres[].
Succeeds in clayey to sandy soils[].
In natural forest in West Java, at an altitude of 1,100 - 1,500 metres, Dysoxylum species were among the few major commercial species[]. Their natural regeneration, however, was very erratic. The few seedlings which did come up, were found in open areas as well as under shade and had a height increment of only about 25cm in three years[].
Dysoxylum species are not resistant to fire and seedlings die in 7 - 11 days when exposed to waterlogged conditions[].
Locally in Papua New Guinea Dysoxylum species may constitute 4% of the total exploitable timber volume of trees over 50 cm diameter[].
A dioecious species, both male and female forms need to be grown if fruit and seed are required[]. The plant occasionally also has some bisexual flowers[].

Edible Uses

The fruits are reported to be edible[].

Young leaves of the same species smell of onions and have been cooked with fish[]. The leaves of this species never smell of onions, leaves that do usually come from Dysoxylum alliaceum[].

Medicinal

Dysoxylum species are well-known in the Philippines for their medicinal properties; an infusion of the bark is widely used as an emetic[].

Agroforestry Uses:

The tree may be useful for reforestation purposes[].

Other Uses

The bark shows insecticidal properties[].

The heartwood is brownish-red to bright red; it is clearly demarcated from the fawnish-white sapwood. The wood is hard[, ]. The wood is little esteemed, but is used for general construction[]. A handsome wood, well deserving of more extensive notice[]. It is used for a wide variety of products such as general construction, boat construction, heavy decking, flooring, posts, foundation piles, doors, window frames and sills, mouldings, interior finish, decorative wall panelling, high grade furniture, cabinet work, coffins, vats, pallets, cart wheels, carving, turnery, tool handles, billiard cue butts, and match splints and matchboxes[]. It is also used for the production of sliced veneer, plywood and block board, and is suitable for the production of pulp[].

We have no more specific information on the wood of this species, but it is one of a group of species that are the source of a commercial timber known in the trade as 'jarum-jarum'. The general description of jarum-jarum is as follows:-
The heartwood is orange-red to brick red when fresh,darkening on exposure; it is clearly demarcated from the yellow sapwood. The texture is moderately coarse but uneven due to the abundant of parenchyma; the grain is straight, interlocked, wavy or irregular; there is a watersilk marking on flat-sawn surfaces due to the parenchyma bands. The wood is moderately hard to hard. It is used for purposes such as flooring, furniture, wall panelling, solid door construction, veneer and plywood[].

Propagation

Seed - when sown fresh with the pulp still adhering, the seeds have a germination rate of 80% in 1 - 4 months[].
Seeds sown without the pulp generally germinate faster than those sown with pulp.

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