Horsfieldia splendida W.J.deWilde, Gard. Bull. Sing. 38 (1986)

Latin for 'beautiful'.

Diagnostics
Understorey tree up to 20(-30) m tall and 28 cm dbh. Stem with red sap. Stipules absent. Leaves alternate, simple, penni-veined, densely hairy below. Flowers ca. 2 mm diameter, green-yellow, placed in panicles. Fruits ca. 23 mm long, yellow-red, hairy, dehiscent capsules. Seeds with undivided aril.

Description
Tree 10-20(-30) m. Twigs 4-7 mm diameter, late glabrescent, at first with dense woolly, yellow-brown to rusty hairs 1-1.5 mm; bark dark brown or blackish, coarsely longitudinally striate and fissured, later on cracking and +/- flaking; lenticels few, indistinct. Leaves membranous to chartaceous, elliptic-oblong to oblong-oblanceolate, 18- 45 by 6.5-17 cm, base almost rounded to attenuate, apex acute-acuminate; upper surface drying dull olivaceous-brown, early glabrescent, lower surface with conspicuous rather dense, flossy, stalked-dendroid hairs, +/- evenly spaced and of about the same size, hairs 0.5-1.5 mm long; dots absent: midrib late glabrescent above, rather flat; nerves 18-25 pairs, sunken above, lines of interarching distinct, regular; venation lax, distinct; petiole 12-17 by 3.5-5 mm, pubescent; leaf bud 15(-20) by 5 mm. with hairs 1-1.5 mm long. Inflorescences with dense woolly dendroid hairs 1-1.5 mm; in male: many-flowered, 4 (or 5) times branched, 6-16 by 3-12(-16) cm, peduncle 0.5-2 cm; in female: rather few-flowered. 3-5 cm long; bracts +/- ovate-triangular, acuminate, 0.4-1 cm long, densely pubescent, caducous; flowers in male 3-8 in loose clusters, perianth 3- (or 4-)lobed, glabrous or thinly pubescent, pedicel slender, glabrous or subglabrescent, hairs 0.3-0.5 mm long, not articulated. Male flowers: pedicel 1-1.5 mm long; buds (depressed) subglobose, 1.4-2 by 1.6-2 mm, cleft 1/3 to nearly 1/2, lobes 0.2 mm thick; androecium depressed-subglobose, +/- impressed in the centre, circular or faintly triangular in cross section, 0.5-0.6 by 1-1.3 mm: thecae 16-20, completely sessile, incurved towards the apex; column broad, solid, with small apical hollow to l/3(-l/2); androphore +/- slender, 0.3(-0.5) mm long. Female flowers (from remnants under fruits): pedicel 0.5-1 mm long, pubescent; buds 3 by 2.5 mm, 3- or 4-lobed, pubescent; ovary ovoid-ellipsoid, pubescent; stigma minutely 2-lobed. 0. 1 mm high. Fruits 2-7 per infructescence, broadly ovoid-ellipsoid, 2-3 by 1.5-2 cm, pubescent (hairs 0.5 mm), without lenticels or tubercles; pericarp 3 mm thick; fruiting pedicel 1 mm long; perianth persistent. [from Flora Malesiana]

Ecology
In undisturbed to slightly disturbed (open) mixed dipterocarp, keranga, coastal and sub-montane forests up to 1500 m altitude. On ridges and hillsides with sandy soils, but also on limestone.

Distribution
Borneo.

Local names
Borneo: Dara-dara, Darah-darah, Kumpang, Umpa mpomot.