Horsfieldia motleyi Warb., Mon. Myrist. (1897)
Named after J. Motley [?-1859], a British engineer who also collected plants.Synonyms
Horsfieldia macrobotrys Merr.
Myristica motleyi (Warb.) Boerl.
Description
Upper canopy tree up to 46 m tall and 79 cm dbh. Stem with red sap. Stipules
absent. Leaves alternate, simple, penni-veined, hairy below. Flowers ca. 2 mm
diameter, yellow, placed in panicles. Fruits ca. 18 mm long, orange-red,
glabrous, dehiscent capsules. Seeds with undivided reddish aril.
Description
Tree 12-35(-46) m. Twigs (2.5-)3-5 mm diameter, at first with dense rusty hairs 0.5(-1)
mm, late glabrescent; bark finely striate, not flaking; lenticels inconspicuous. Leaves
membranous, elliptic to oblong, 9-27 by 4-12 cm, base rounded to attenuate, apex +/- obtuse
to acute-acuminate; upper surface drying olivaceous(-brown), glabrous, lower surface
with persistent rather dense stellate-dendroid hairs of mixed size, 0.3-1 mm long;
dots absent; midrib flattish above, sometimes late glabrescent; nerves 9-21 pairs, flat or
sunken, often late glabrescent above; lines of interarching +/- indistinct; venation lax,
faint above; petiole 13-22 by 1.5-4 mm, late glabrescent; leaf bud 15-20 by 3-4 mm,
with dense hairs 0.5 mm long. Inflorescences with dense stellate-dendroid yellow-brown
to rusty hairs, 0.5-1 mm long; in male: 4 or 5 times branched, many-flowered,
12-20 by 10-14 cm, peduncle 2-4 cm, flowers +/- densely clustered (immature buds
+/- angular); in female: much branched, rather many-flowered, 3-6(-10) cm long; bracts
broadly ellipsoid, acutish, 2-5 mm long, densely pubescent, caducous; flowers (male) in
clusters of 5-20, with hairs 0.1-0.3 mm long, perianth 3-lobed, pedicel not articulated.
Male flowers: pedicel slender, 1-1.5 mm long; buds subglobose or broadly obovoid,
0.8-1 by 0.7-1(-1.1) mm, pubescent or late glabrescent, cleft c. 1/2, lobes 0.1 mm thick;
androecium broadly obovoid, 0.5-0.7 by (0.3-)0.5-0.6 mm, synandrium at apex somewhat
flattish, depressed in the centre, subcircular in cross section; thecae
10, completely sessile, towards the apex not or hardly incurved, 0.25-0.4 mm long,
column broad, with broad, apical hollow to c. 1/10, androphore conspicuous, continuous
with the anthers, +/- tapering, 0.2-0.3 mm long. Female flowers: pedicel 1.5 mm long;
buds ellipsoid, 2.4 by 1.8-2 mm, pubescent, cleft 1/4-1/3; ovary broadly ellipsoid, 1.5
by 1.2 mm, grooved at one side, glabrous, stigma broad, shallowly 2-lobed, 0.2 mm
high. Fruits 5-15 per infructescence, broadly ellipsoid, 1.9-2.3 by 1.6-1.8 cm, glabrous,
smooth; pericarp 2 mm thick; fruiting pedicel 2-4 mm long; perianth not persistent.
[from Flora Malesiana]
Ecology
In undisturbed mixed dipterocarp and keranga forests up to 800 m altitude.
On hillsides and ridges with sandy soils, but also on clay or limestone.
Distribution
Borneo.
Local names
Borneo: Dara-dara, Darah-darah, Kumpang.
