Horsfieldia pallidicaula W.J.deWilde, Gard. Bull. Sing. 38 (1986)
Latin for 'pale stem'.
Synonyms
Horsfieldia bracteosa var. microcarya J.Sinclair
Diagnostics
Sub-canopy tree up to 26 m tall and 32 cm dbh. Stem with red sap. Stipules
absent. Leaves alternate, simple, penni-veined, glabrous. Flowers ca. 3 mm
diameter, yellow, placed in panicles. Fruits ca. 32 mm diameter, orange-pink,
glabrous, dehiscent capsules. Seeds with undivided pinkish-orange aril.
Description
Tree 7-20(-26) m. Twigs 2-10 mm diameter, pale, whitish or greyish brown, contrasting
with the blackish drying colour of the petioles (which often are greyish and sometimes
flaky in the lower half), early glabrescent, hairs grey-brown, 0.1-0.3 mm long; bark
finely striate, slightly flaking or not; lenticels inconspicuous or absent. Leaves either in
2, 3, or 5 rows, membranous, oblong(-lanceolate), 10-30 by 4-9.5 cm, base long-attenuate,
apex acute-acuminate; upper surface drying (blackish) brown, lower surface drying
(grey-)brown, early glabrescent; dots absent; midrib slightly raised above, glabrous;
nerves 10-18 pairs, slender, flat or slightly raised above, lines of interarching indistinct;
venation lax, indistinct; petiole 10-25 by 1.5-3 mm; leaf bud stout or slender, 7-10 by
2-4 mm, with brown-grey or rusty hairs (0.1-)0.2(-0.3) mm long. Inflorescences generally
behind the leaves, glabrescent, hairs sparse, 0.1-0.2 mm; in male: (2 or) 3 times
branched, many-flowered, 3-9 by 2.5-7 cm, peduncle up to 0.7 cm long (inflorescences
often branched from near the base), the flowers in loose clusters of 2-4; in female:
rather few-flowered, 1-3 cm long; bracts lanceolate, acute, finely pubescent, 1-3 mm
long, caducous; flowers glabrous, perianth 3- or 4-lobed, in female sometimes 2-lobed,
pedicel not articulated. Male flowers: pedicel 1-2 mm, slender; buds globose or broadly
obovoid, 1.5-2(-2.2) mm diameter, base rounded to short-attenuate, cleft c. 1/3 to nearly
1/2, not or but slightly collapsing on drying, lobes 0.2-0.3 mm thick; androecium
short-ellipsoid or depressed-globose, 0.8-1.2 by 0.8-1.2 mm, circular in cross section,
thecae 16-20, completely sessile (free apices 0.1 mm long), incurved towards
the apex of the androecium; column broad with narrow apical cavity, 0. 1-0.2 mm
deep; androphore narrow, 0-0.2 mm long. Female flowers: pedicel 1-1.5 mm long;
buds broadly ellipsoid or subglobose, 2.5-3 by 2.5 mm, cleft 1/4-1/3; ovary broadly
ovoid, 1.7-2 by 1.5-2 mm, glabrous, stigma lobes 0.1-0.2 mm long. Fruits 1-5 per
infructescence, broadly ellipsoid, 1.5-6 by 1-3 cm, glabrous, drying blackish, finely
granulate and sometimes tubercled; pericarp variable; fruiting pedicel 1-3 mm long;
perianth persistent under the fruits (always?). [from Flora Malesiana]
Ecology
In undisturbed mixed dipterocarp and keranga forests up to 700 m altitude.
Common along rivers and streams, but also on hillsides and ridges. On clay to
sandy soils.
Distribution
Borneo.
Local names
Borneo: Kumpang, Kumpang balau.
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