Casatanopsis schefferiana Hance, J. Bot. 16: 200 (1878)

Species named after R.H.C.C. Scheffer [1844-1880], director of Bogor Botanical Gardens from 1868 until his death in 1880.

Synonyms
Castanopsis andersonii Gamble

Diagnostics
Tree with buttresses and smooth bark. Twigs sparsely lenticullate. Stipules linear, 3-7 mm long but dropped early. Petiole with distinctly swollen base, 1-2.5 cm long. Leaves elongate with widest point slightly above the middle, ca. 12 by 5 cm, with 10-15 secondary veins. Fruits splitting in four parts, subsessile, sometimes distinctly 4-lobed, felty hairy and with densely set, sturdy somewhat recurved spines (4-15 mm long) which are placed solitary or in bundles.

Description
Tree, 10-24 m by 30-60 cm diameter; buttresses up to 1.2 m tall, 5 cm thick; bark smooth, grey. Branchlets initially tomentellous or glabrous; slender to rather sturdy, sparsely lenticellate; terminal bud ovoid-globose or ellipsoid, 3-5 by 2-3 mm, scales ovate-acute. Stipules linear, 3-7 mm long, very early caducous. Leaves thick-coriaceous, (6-)8-12(-18) by (1-)3-5(-7) cm (index 2.2-3), widest about the middle to rarely below; base attenuate to rounded, and acute, apex acute to 0.5¡ª1 cm acuminate; glabrous, mostly concolorous, glossy above, dull beneath; midrib strongly prominent beneath, slightly so above; nerves 10-15 pairs, c. prominent beneath, flattish above, at an angle of 45-70 degrees, parallel, ascending, arcuating towards the margin; reticulation fine, dense, more or less regularly scalariform, obscure on both surfaces; petiole 1-2.5 cm, adaxially flat to deeply sulcate. Male rachis 10-17 cm, 1-2 mm diameter; bracts and bracteoles ovate-acute, 1 by 1 mm; male flowers in clusters of 3-7, perianth lobes membranous, 0.8-1 by 0.5-0.7 mm, densely hairy outside; stamens 12, filaments 2 mm long, anthers 0.2 mm long, pistillode 1-1.5 mm diameter. Female or androgynous rachis 10-15 cm, 2-3 mm diameter, bracts and bracteoles ovate-acute, 1 by 1 mm; female flowers in clusters of 3, perianth lobes 0.7-1 by 0.5-0.7 mm, membranous, densely hairy; staminodes 12, rudimentary, styles 3, cylindrical-conical, 1-1.5 mm. Young infructescence: rachis 20-25 cm, 3 mm diameter. Young cupule obovoid-globose, the segments between the 4 sutures covered with spines. Ripe cupules scattered along the rachis, (sub)sessile, obovoid-globose, sometimes distinctly 4-lobed, 3/4-4 cm through; wall 1.5 mm thick, inside with long, ferruginous, silky hairs, outside more or less densely hoary-puberulous or felty, rather densely set with sturdy somewhat recurved spines 4-15 mm long, solitary or in bundles, hairy with glabrous top; dehiscence into 4 segments or irregular. Fruits 2-3 per cupule, ovoid-conical, 1-1.5 cm through, scar occupying 0.25-0.7 part, flat convex; free part of the wall with brownish silky tomentum. [from Flora Malesiana]

Ecology
Forests up to 1000 m elevation.

Uses

Distribution
Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra.

Local names