Pterocarpus indicus | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Fabales |
Family: | Fabaceae |
Subfamily: | Faboideae |
Genus: | Pterocarpus |
Species: | P. indicus |
Binomial name | |
Pterocarpus indicus | |
Synonyms [2] | |
List
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Pterocarpus indicus (commonly known as Amboyna wood, Malay padauk, Papua New Guinea rosewood, Philippine mahogany, Andaman redwood, Burmese rosewood, narra [3] (from Tagalog [4] ) and asana in the Philippines, angsana, or Pashu padauk) is a species of Pterocarpus native to southeastern Asia, northern Australasia, and the western Pacific Ocean islands, in Cambodia, southernmost China, East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia, [5] Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Ryukyu Islands, the Solomon Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam. [6]
Pterocarpus indicus was one of two species (the other being Eysenhardtia polystachya ) used as a source for the 16th- to 18th-century traditional diuretic known as lignum nephriticum . [7]
Many populations of Pterocarpus indicus are seriously threatened. It is extinct in Vietnam and possibly in Sri Lanka and Peninsular Malaysia. [1] It was declared the national tree of the Philippines in 1934 by Governor-General Frank Murphy of the Insular Government of the Philippine Islands through Proclamation No. 652. [8]
It is a large deciduous tree growing to 30–40 m tall, with a trunk up to 2 m diameter. The leaves are 12–22 cm long, pinnate, with 5–11 leaflets, the girth is 12–34 m wide. Most Pterocarpus species prefer seasonal weather but P. indicus prefer rainforests.
The flowers are produced in panicles 6–13 cm long containing a few to numerous flowers; flowering is from February to May in the Philippines, Borneo and the Malay peninsula. They are slightly fragrant and have yellow or orange-yellow petals. The fruit is a semiorbicular pod 2–3 cm diameter, surrounded by a flat 4–6 cm diameter membranaceous wing (wing-like structure) which aids dispersal by the wind. It contains one or two seeds, and does not split open at maturity; it ripens within 4–6 years, and becomes purple when dry. The central part of the pod can be smooth (f. indica), bristly (f. echinatus (Pers.) Rojo) or intermediate. [9] [10]
Note: Pterocarpus macrocarpus , a similar species native to Burma, is referred to as "Rosewood" throughout South East Asia. P. macrocarpus is usually harder than P. indicus. When in burl form both are referred to as Amboyna Burl.
The hardwood, which is purplish, is termite-resistant and rose-scented. The wood known in Indonesia as amboyna is the burl of the tree, named after Ambon, where much of this material was originally found. Often amboyna is finely sliced to produce an extremely decorative veneer, used for decoration and in making of furniture and keys on a marimba.
It is a premium timber species suitable for high grade furniture, lumber and plywood for light construction purposes. It is also used for cartwheels, wood carving and musical instruments. [11]
The flower is used as a honey source while leaf infusions are used as shampoos. Both flowers and leaves were said to be eaten. The leaves are supposedly good for waxing and polishing brass and copper. It is also a source of kino or resin. [10]
The leaves of narra are also used in traditional medicine to treat a variety of health problems. Narra leaves contain flavonoids. Flavonoids are antioxidants that provide health benefits to humans, such as anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic benefits. Flavonoids in narra leaves may be capable of preventing damage to your kidneys. [12]
In folk medicine, it is used to combat tumors. [10] This property might be due to an acidic polypeptide found in its leaves that inhibited growth of Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells by disruption of cell and nuclear membranes.[ citation needed ] It was also one of the sources of lignum nephriticum , a diuretic in Europe during the 16th to 18th centuries. Its reputation is due to its wood infusions, which are fluorescent. [7]
The tree is recommended as an ornamental tree for avenues and is sometimes planted in Puerto Rico as a shade and ornament. The tall, dome-shaped crown, with long, drooping branches is very attractive and the flowers are spectacular in areas with a dry season. It is very easily propagated from seed or large stem cuttings, but suffers from disease problems. It is widely planted as a roadside, park, and parking lot tree.
In agroforestry, it maintains ecosystem fertility and soil stability. Narra is a leguminous plant that is capable of fixing nitrogen by forming endosymbiotic relationships with nitrogen-fixing bacteria that lives in its root nodules. Nodulating leguminous plants, such as narra, are responsible for transforming atmospheric nitrogen into a plant-usable form.
In the Philippines, a permit is required to cut the narra (cf. Tagalog and Cebuano nára, Maranao nara), [13] but nevertheless the popular sturdy wood is widely used for construction and furniture projects. [14]
In Singapore, the ease to propagate the tree made it a favourite for the urban planners in Singapore to plant new trees via monoculture in a campaign to transform the rapidly urbaning city into a green city in between 1969 and 1982. [15] [16] In 1985, 1,400 trees died due to "Angsana Wilt Disease," and were cut down. [16] It was found that the fusarium oxysporum fungi species was the cause of the disease. [16] The fungus was carried by ambrosia beetles boring into the trees. [17] The infection was eventually controlled by a combination of monitoring, removal of lightning-damaged trees, and replanting with identified disease-resistant varieties. [18]
It is the national tree of the Philippines, [8] as well as the provincial tree of Chonburi and Phuket in Thailand.
Pterocarpus is a pantropical tree genus in the Fabaceae family. It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae, and was recently assigned to the informal monophyletic Pterocarpus clade within the Dalbergieae. Most species of Pterocarpus yield valuable timber traded as padauk, usually pronounced or ; other common names are mukwa or narra. The west African species may be traded as African rosewood. P. santalinus also yields the most precious red sandalwood in China known as Zitan. The wood from the narra tree and the Burmese padauk tree is marketed as amboyna when it has grown in the burl form. The scientific name is Latinized Ancient Greek and means "wing fruit", referring to the unusual shape of the seed pods in this genus.
Lignum vitae is a wood, also called guayacan or guaiacum, and in parts of Europe known as Pockholz or pokhout, from trees of the genus Guaiacum. The trees are indigenous to the Caribbean and the northern coast of South America and have been an important export crop to Europe since the beginning of the 16th century. The wood was once very important for applications requiring a material with its extraordinary combination of strength, toughness, and density. It is also the national tree of the Bahamas, and the Jamaican national flower.
Lake Mainit is the fourth largest lake in the Philippines, having a surface area of 173.40 square kilometres (66.95 sq mi). The lake is also the deepest lake in the country with maximum depth reaching 223 metres (732 ft). It is located in the northeastern section of Mindanao and shared between the provinces of Surigao del Norte and Agusan del Norte.
Narra may refer to:
Narra, officially the Municipality of Narra, is a 1st class municipality in the province of Palawan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 77,948 people.
Rosewood is any of a number of richly hued hardwoods, often brownish with darker veining, but found in other colours. It is hard, tough, strong, and dense. True rosewoods come from trees of the genus Dalbergia, but other woods are often called rosewood. Rosewood takes a high polish and is used for luxury furniture-making, flooring, musical instruments, and turnery.
Philippine mahogany is a common name for several different species of trees and their wood.
Bloodwood is a common name for several unrelated trees, including:
Na ʻĀina Kai Botanical Gardens are nonprofit botanical gardens located at 4101 Wailapa Road, Kīlauea, Kauaʻi, Hawaiʻi. A variety of guided tours are offered Tuesday through Friday; an admission fee is charged for each.
Pterocarpus macrocarpus, or Burma padauk, is a tree native to the seasonal tropical forests of southeastern Asia: in Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam. It has been naturalized in India and the Caribbean.
Pterocarpus santalinus, with the common names red sanders, red saunders, Yerra Chandanam, Chenchandanam, red sandalwood, Rakta Chandana, and rakto chandon, is a species of Pterocarpus endemic to the southern Eastern Ghats mountain range of South India. This tree is valued for the rich red colour of its wood, and in recent years there has been a marked uptick in the use of red sandalwood as a component of incense, especially in the west. The tree is not to be confused with the aromatic Santalum sandalwood trees that grow natively in Southern India.
Alstonia scholaris, commonly called blackboard tree, scholar tree, milkwood or devil's tree in English, is an evergreen tropical tree in the dogbane family (Apocynaceae). It is native to southern China, tropical Asia and Australasia, where it is a common ornamental plant. It is a toxic plant, but is used traditionally for myriad diseases and complaints. It is called 'Saptaparna' in India and is the sacred tree of the 2nd Jain tirthankar Ajitnatha.
Pterocarpus dalbergioides, the Andaman padauk, Andaman redwood or East Indian mahogany, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae. It is sometimes called "narra", but this is just a generic term used for any of several Pterocarpus species. It is native to the Andaman Islands.
Pterocarpus soyauxii, the African padauk or African coralwood, is a species of Pterocarpus in the family Fabaceae, native to central and tropical west Africa, from Nigeria east to Congo-Kinshasa and south to Angola.
Tropical evergreen forests of India are found in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Western Ghats, which fringe the Arabian Sea, the coastline of peninsular India, and the greater Assam region in the north-east. Small remnants of semi-evergreen forest are found in Odisha state. Semi-evergreen forest is more extensive than the evergreen formation all over India because evergreen forests tend to degrade to evergreen with human interference. There are substantial differences between the three major evergreen forest regions. The average annual rainfall is 69-79 inches.
Lignum nephriticum is a traditional diuretic that was derived from the wood of two tree species, the narra and the Mexican kidneywood. The wood is capable of turning the color of water it comes in contact with into beautiful opalescent hues that change depending on light and angle, the earliest known record of the phenomenon of fluorescence. Due to this strange property, it became well known in Europe from the 16th to the early 18th century. Cups made from lignum nephriticum were given as gifts to royalty. Water drunk from such cups, as well as imported powders and extracts from lignum nephriticum, were thought to have great medicinal properties.
Purwodadi Botanical Garden is a research centre in Purwodadi, Pasuruan, East Java, Indonesia. It has an area of 85 hectares and more than 10,000 types of trees and many plant collections. Callus cultures of Agave amaniensis by Setia Dewi were taken in 1988.
The flora of the Philippines boasts a diverse array of plant species given its location in the great Malaysian flora. The Malaysian Phytogeographic zone is considered to be one of the most important centers for plant diversity because of the multitude and variance of species occupying that zone. The archipelago is isolated by a continental and deep ocean.
The Greater Negros–Panay rain forests ecoregion covers the central Visayan Islands in the Philippines, including the islands of Panay, Negros, Cebu, Masbate, Sibuyan, Ticao, Guimaras, Romblon, Tablas, Siquijor, and Bohol, but excludes Leyte and Samar. During the last ice age, these were all on the same island. The lack of a land bridge to Asia during the ice age kept most Asian megafauna, including elephants and tigers, from reaching the Philippines and the Visayan Islands, which hosts many unique and endemic species with some exclusive only to an island.
Media related to Pterocarpus indicus at Wikimedia Commons