Knema glaucescens Jack, Mal. Misc. 7 (1821)

Synonyms
Knema geminata (Miq.) Warb.
Myristica geminata Miq.
Myristica glaucescens (Jack) Hook.f. & Thomson

Diagnostics
Understorey tree up to 18 m tall and 14 cm dbh. Bark ochre-brown, nearly smooth, not or only slightly flaking; wood white. Leaves coriaceous, glossy dark green with whitish green midrib above, glaucous or dirty white with brownish midrib beneath; venation not visible. Fruits with rusty brown scurf. Aril hot, then cold in the mouth, tasting like cloves and nutmeg.

Description
Tree 8-15(-18) m. Twigs 1-2(-3) mm in diameter, at first with very fine rusty, scurfy hairs 0.1 mm long, glabrescent; bark finely striate, not tending to crack or flake. Leaves chartaceous or thinly coriaceous, ovate-oblong to lanceolate, 6-20(-23) by 2-6.5(-7.5) cm, apex acute-acuminate, base rounded or subattenuate; greenish or brown above; lower surface greyish, with subpersistent +/- dense stellate hairs 0.1-0.2 mm long, mixed with larger stellate-dendroid hairs, when shed leaving minute hair scars; dots absent; midrib flat or raised above; nerves 13-20 pairs, raised above, venation distinct above; petiole 5-15 by 1-2 mm. Inflorescences: peduncle up to 2 mm, brachyblast simple or forked, to 5 mm long; in male 5-20-flowered, in female 1-10-flowered; flowers with persistent grey to rusty hairs 0.1-0.2 mm long, perianth 3-lobed, creamy or yellowish inside. Male flowers: pedicel 6-11 mm long; bracteole early or late caducous, median or somewhat higher up; buds globose, 2.5-3.5 mm in diameter, cleft c. 4/5, lobes 0.8-1 mm thick; staminal disc flat to low-mammillate, circular or subtriangular, 1.5-2 mm in diameter; anthers 9-13(-15?), slightly to distinctly stiped, +/- horizontal, 0.2-0.4 mm long, spaced; androphore 0.5-1 mm long. Female flowers: pedicel 3-6 mm long; bracteole +/- median; buds ellipsoid-obovoid, 4-5(-5.5) by 2.5-4 mm, cleft slightly over halfway, lobes 1 mm thick; ovary ovoid, 2-2.5 mm long; stigma subsessile, +/- flat, (1- or) 2-4- lobed and each lobe again few- to many- (up to 15-)lobulate or serrate. Fruits 1 or 2 per infructescence, ellipsoid or broadly obovoid, sometimes ridged, 1.8-2.2 by 1 .2-1.8 cm, with mealy hairs 0.1-0.3 mm long; dry pericarp 1(-2) mm thick; fruiting pedicel (3-) 4-11 mm long. [from Flora Malesiana]

Ecology
In undisturbed mixed dipterocarp, keranga and sub-montane forests up to 1300 m altitude. Usually on hillsides and ridges, sometimes on periodically waterlogged sites. On sand to clayey soils.

Distribution
Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo.

Local names
Borneo: Dara-dara.