Knema galeata J.Sinclair, Gard. Bull. Sing. 18 (1961)
Latin for 'with helmet'.
Diagnostics
Upper canopy tree up to 43 m tall and 43 cm dbh. Bark smooth, finely flaky or fissured;
inner bark brownish; sapwood pink-yellow, pale brown, or whitish. Leaves very glossy green
with whitish green midrib above, glaucous with yellowish green midrib and veins beneath.
Flowers with rusty indumentum, pure white or reddish inside; stamens yellow; fruits dark
yellow, orange, or rusty brown.
Description
Tree 5-30(-43) m. Twigs stout, sometimes somewhat flattened or angular, 4-10 mm in
diameter, at first with rusty hairs 1-2 mm long, glabrescent, (blackish) brown; bark finely
striate, when older tending to crack or flake. Leaves thickly coriaceous, oblong or lanceolate,
15-50 by 2.5-14 cm, base rounded, or subcordate or subcuneate, apex obtusish or
acute-acuminate; olivaceous, glossy above; lower surface at first with dense rusty indumentum,
early glabrescent, greyish to pinkish; dots absent; midrib much raised above;
nerves 20-35 pairs, raised above, distinctly interarching; venation faint above; petiole
12-30(-40) by 3-8 mm. Inflorescences: sessile, brachyblast simple or warted with up to
10 protuberances, up to 20 by 10 mm, in male (5-)10-50-flowered, in female 5-25-
flowered; flowers at first with hairs 0.4-1 mm long, glabrescent, perianth 3-lobed, white,
pink or red inside. Male flowers: pedicel (15-)20-30 mm long, bracteole 1-3 mm long,
subpersistent, about median; buds mitriform, triquetrous in cross section, 6-10 by 9-15
mm, cleft nearly to the base, lobes broad, reniform, 0.5(-1) mm thick; staminal disc flat
or +/- convex, circular or +/- triangular, 3-5 mm in diameter; anthers 14-23, just sessile,
oblong, 1-1.5 mm long, horizontal or +/- oblique, not touching; androphore 0.5-1 mm.
Female flowers: pedicel 12-25 mm long, bracteole about median; buds subovoid-mitriform,
narrower than in male, 7-9 by 5-7 mm, cleft nearly to the base, lobes 0.5-1
mm thick; ovary globose or ovoid, 3-3.5 by 2.5-3 mm; stigma sessile, 2-lobed and each
lobe again (deeply) 4-8-lobulate. Fruits (1-)2-5 per infructescence, obovoid or pearshaped,
often contracted towards the base, 2-5 by 1.5-3 cm, sometimes ridged, apex
sometimes beaked; pericarp 2-3 mm thick, at first with indumentum of hairs 0.5 mm
long, glabrescent; fruiting pedicel 15-30 mm long. [from Flora Malesiana]
Ecology
Primary mixed lowland dipterocarp forest, hill-side and ridge forest, open kerangas, and marshy
forest; on sandy soils, on yellow podzolic soils, marshy soil, yellow clay soil, and sandy loam;
usually at low altitudes, sometimes into sub-montane forests up to 1600 m altitude.
Distribution
Borneo.
Local names
Borneo: Dara-dara, Kumpang, Mandaharan, Penarahan, Pokon, Semah.
|