Horsfieldia wallichii (Hook.f. & Thomson) Warb., Mon. Myrist. (1897)

Named after N. Wallich [1786-1854], a Danish botanist.

Synonyms
Myristica wallichii Hook.f. & Thomson

Diagnostics
Mid-canopy tree up to 35 m tall and 54 cm dbh. Stem with red sap. Stipules absent. Leaves alternate, simple, penni-veined, glabrous to sparsely hairy. Flowers ca. 2 mm diameter, brownish, placed in panicles. Fruits ca. 54 mm long, yellow-orange, glabrous, dehiscent capsules. Seeds with undivided orange aril.

Description
Tree 10-30(-35) m tall. Twigs sometimes drying somewhat flattened, usually conspicuously hollow, 3-6 mm diameter, early to late glabrescent, hairs 0.3-0.6 mm; bark dark brown or blackish, coarsely striate, later on fissured, sometimes flaking, lenticels inconspicuous. Leaves membranous to coriaceous, ovate-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, (14-)19-40 by (4-)4.5-12 cm, base rounded to short-attenuate, apex subobtuse to acute-acuminate; upper surface drying olivaceous to blackish brown, glabrous (with minute indumentum sometimes remaining on midrib); lower surface late glabrescent or indumentum locally persistent, hairs sparse or dense, dendroid, (0.3-)0.5-0.8 mm long; dark dots and/or dashes present; midrib slightly raised above, late glabrescent; nerves (12-)15-28 pairs, slender, flat or sunken above, lines of interarching and venation indistinct; petioles 15-35 by 2.5-4.5 mm; leaf bud 20-30 by 4-6 mm, with dense hairs 0.3-0.6 mm. Inflorescences usually behind the leaves, with sparse or dense stellate-dendroid hairs 0.5-1 mm long; in male: large, many-flowered, 3 or 4 times branched, 10-33 by 6-22 cm, peduncle 3-7 cm; in female: rather stout, fewer-flowered, 3-7 cm long; bracts broadly ovate, 3-10 mm long, densely woolly-pubescent, caducous; flowers in male in clusters of 5-12, perianth 3- (or 4-)lobed, glabrous (in female glabrescent), pedicel with hairs 0.2-0.3 mm long, not articulated. Male flowers: pedicel 0.3-0.6(-1) mm; buds broadly obovoid, 2-2.5(-3) by 2.4-2.5(-3) mm, apex broadly rounded, base +/- attenuate, cleft 1/3-2/3, lobes 0.2-0.3 mm thick; androecium broadly obovoid to subglobose, apex +/- depressed with a 3-radiate crack, base rounded to attenuate, faintly triangular in cross section, 1.3-2 by 1.5-2 mm; thecae (24?-)30-46, completely connate, sessile, closely appressed, at apex incurved into apical hollow; column broad with broad hollow to c. 1/2; androphore narrow, up to 0.3 mm long. Female flowers: pedicel stout, 0.5-1.5 mm long; buds ovoid-ellipsoid, 2.5-4 by 2-3.5 mm, glabrescent, hairs 0.1 mm, cleft c. 1/3; ovary ovoid to subglobose, 2 by 2-2.5 mm, glabrous, stigma broad, faintly 2-lobed, 0.3 by 0.8 mm. Fruits 2-9 per infructescence, ovoid-ellipsoid, 4-7 by 3-4.5 cm, glabrous, smooth or wrinkled, not or only faintly warted; pericarp 10-15 mm thick; fruiting pedicel stout, 4-6 mm long; perianth generally persistent. [from Flora Malesiana]

Ecology
In undisturbed mixed dipterocarp, keranga and peat-swamp forests up to 800 m altitude. Usually on hillsides, rarely alluvial. On sandy soils, also on limestone.

Distribution
Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo.

Local names
Borneo: Dara-dara, Darah-darah, Pendarahan.