Shorea
Content
Description
Medium-sized or large buttressed trees without stilt-roots;
Inflorescence paniculate.
Petals usually connate at base on falling, sometimes free.
Stamens 10-∞;
Ovary tomentose, rarely glabrous;
Distribution
Asia-Tropical: India present; Jawa (Jawa present); Lesser Sunda Is.; Malaya present; Maluku (Maluku present); Philippines (Philippines present); Sumatera (Sumatera present); Thailand (Thailand present), Borneo and intervening islands present, Burma present, Ceylon present, Timor
About 194 spp. in Ceylon, India, Burma, Thailand, Indochina, and 163 spp. in Malesia: Malaya, Sumatra, Borneo and intervening islands, Java, Philippines and Moluccas. .
Fossil wood has been identified as Shoreoxylon from Timor in the Lesser Sunda Islands by Schweitzer () in which islands Shorea does not occur at present.
Fossil wood has been identified as Shoreoxylon from Timor in the Lesser Sunda Islands by Schweitzer () in which islands Shorea does not occur at present.
Uses
The most important timber genus in the Asian humid tropics. Sections Shorea, Pentacme (Asian species only) and Neohopea yield a hard heavy timber suitable for construction and decking (balau, Malaya, selangan batu, Borneo, yakal, Philippines); sect. Richetioides a yellowish brown light hardwood (yellow meranti, Malaya, yellow seraya, Sabah, lun, Sarawak); sect. Anthoshorea a white siliceous veneer timber (white meranti, Malaya, raruk, Sarawak, melapi, Sabah), and the remaining sections pink, red or occasionally white or brown light medium or sometimes heavy hardwoods favoured for furniture as well as light construction (red meranti, Malaya, lup, perawan, Sarawak, red seraya, Sabah, red lauan, Philippines).
Notes
The subdivision of the genus accepted here has been more fully discussed by me in my paper of 1963.
Citation
Brandis 1895 – In: J. Linn. Soc. Bot.: 105
B. & H. 1862 – In: Gen. Pl.: 193
Gaertn.f. 1978 – In: Gard. Bull. Sing.: 36
Gaertn.f. 1964: Man. Dipt. Brun.: 115
Ashton 1972 – In: Blumea: 360
Ashton 1963 – In: Gard. Bull. Sing.: 261
Thw. 1852 – In: Kew J.: 7
Meijer & Wood 1964 – In: Sabah For. Rec.: 48
Gaertn.f. 1968: Man. Dipt. Brun.: 60
DC. 1868 – In: Prod.: 628
Burck 1887 – In: Ann. Jard. Bot. Btzg: 204
Dyer 1874 – In: Fl. Br. Ind.: 303
Smitinand 1980 – In: Thai For. Bull. (Bot.): 57
Heim 1892: Rech. Dipt.: 36
Brandis 1895 – In: J. Linn. Soc. Bot.: 73
Foxw. 1938 – In: Philip. J. Sc.: 290
Meijer 1963 – In: Act. Bot. Neerl.: 322
Dyer 1874 – In: Fl. Br. Ind.: 311
Gaertn.f. 1815 – In: Roxb. Pl. Corom.: t. 212
Brandis 1895 – In: J. Linn. Soc. Bot.: 72
cf. Ashton 1972 – In: Blumea: 361
Sym. 1943 – In: Mal. For. Rec.: 1
Sym. 1943: p. 104. – In: Mal. For. Rec.: f. 63 (map).