Shorea albida
Content
Description
Small, medium-sized or vast buttressed tree.
Twig, leaf bud, stipule, petiole and leaf nervation beneath shortly densely persistently red-brown puberulent;
Leaves 7.5-15 by 4.5-6.5 cm, oblong- elliptic, coriaceous;
Stipules to 20 by 8 mm, oblong, obtuse.
Petals cream, ovate, obtuse, pubescent on parts exposed in bud.
Stamens 20-25, of variable length, the inner 5 somewhat longer than the others;
Panicle to 18 cm long, terminal or axillary, compressed, shortly densely cream puberulent;
Ovary ovoid, shortly pubescent;
Distribution
Asia-Tropical, Kapuas swamps through Sarawak to the Limbang Valley present, N.W. Borneo present
Malesia: N.W. Borneo (Kapuas swamps through Sarawak to the Limbang Valley).
Uses
The largest trees, towards the margins of the swamps, are all hollow and are very hard wooded; those towards the centre are too small and the wood is soft; trees in the intermediate zone are an important source of red meranti timber.
Notes
The vegetative parts are strikingly similar to those of S. balangeran in sect. Brachypterae, which shows an apparently identical ecological range and replaces it in Indonesian Borneo. The stamens at once distinguish these species, but the presence of abnormal stamens of the S. balangeran type in the flowers examined by Symington suggests that the affinity is genuine. The obscure midrib above and slender nerves distinguish S. albida from other species in this section and evoke S. coriacea and its allies in sect. Brachypterae, as well as sect. Anthoshorea generally.
Citation
Sym. 1935: p. 283. – In: Gard. Bull. S. S. pl. 26
Browne 1955: For. Trees Sarawak & Brunei. p 137
Ashton 1964: Man. Dipt. Brun: 175. f. 19, pl. 42 (stem), 43 (stand), 44 (stand in swamp)
Sym. 1968: Man. Dipt. Brun. p 104
Brunig 1973 – In: Commonw. For. Rev. p 260
Anderson 1963 – In: Gard. Bull. Sing. p 158