Skip to main content

Merkus pine (Pinus merkusii)

Dlium Merkus pine (Pinus merkusii)

Merkus pine (Pinus merkusii) is a plant species in the Pinaceae, 25-45 meters high, up to 1 meter in diameter, orange-red to black bark, thick, cracked and scaly on the upper crown .

P. merkusii has paired needle leaves, 15-20 cm long, less than 1 mm thick, green and yellowish in color. Woody cones are cone-shaped, 5-8 cm long, 2 cm wide at the base when closed, green and over time turn shiny red-brown.







Cones will open to a width of 4-5 cm at maturity to release seeds in all directions. Seeds have a length of 5-6 mm and wings of 15-20 mm to fly on the wind. Tusam has separate male and female sexual organs but in one individual.

This species is the only natural distribution of Pinaceae members south of the Equator. Mostly it grows at elevations of 400-1500 meters but sometimes at 90 meters to 2000 meters. Rainfall is 1000-3,500 mm/year and temperature is 18-32C. Grows in dry sandy, gravelly, latosol, alluvial and acid ultisol soils on sandstone and pH 4-6.5.

This tree generally covers the entire canopy in a large area, naturally dominates mountainous tropical forests in Indonesia, but is widely cultivated in a number of places to harvest the sap from the stem as raw material for turpentine and gondorukem or colophonium resin.

Trees contain allelopathic terpenoids (monoterpenes ɑ-pinene and β-pinene), flavonoids (pinocembrin), phenols, alkaloids, tannins, saponins, triterpenoids, steroids. Often used to treat skin diseases, diseases of the mucous membranes and respiratory complaints, overcome stress, relieve muscle pain, treat kidney and bladder complaints (internal application), rheumatism. Has several biological activities as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antifungal.

TAXON

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Pinopsida
Order: Pinales
Family: Pinaceae
Subfamily: Pinoideae
Genus: Pinus L. in Sp. Pl.: 1000 (1753)
Subgenus: Pinus
Section: Pinus
Subsection: Pinus
Species: Pinus merkusii Jungh. & de Vriese in W.H.de Vriese, Pl. Nov. Ind. Bat. 1: 5 (1845)

HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS

Pinus finlaysoniana Wall. ex Blume in Rumphia 3: 210 (1847)

HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS

Pinus merkusii subsp. ustulata Businský in Acta Pruhon. 88: 7 (2008)
Pinus sumatrana Jungh. in Bot. Zeitung (Berlin) 4: 699 (1846)
Pinus ustulata (Businský) Businský in Phyton (Horn) 54: 6 (2014)

PUBLICATIONS

Aung, Y.L., Aung, M.H., Tan, Y. & Jin, X. (2025). An updated checklist of vascular plants of Myanmar. PhytoKeys 261: 135-364.

Dy Phon, P. (2000). Dictionnaire des plantes utilisées au Cambodge: 1-915. Chez l'auteur, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Farjon, A. (2001). World Checklist and Bibliography of Conifers, ed. 2: 1-309. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Farjon, A. (2010). A handbook of the world's Conifers 2: 533-1111. BRILL, Leiden, Boston.

Thomas, P., Sengdala, K., Lamxay, V. & Khou, E. (2007). New records of conifers in Cambodia and Laos. Edinburgh Journal of Botany 64: 37-44.

VERNACULAR NAME

Aceh: Uyam
Chinese (Simplified): 南亚松
Chinese (Traditional): 南亞松
Dutch: Sumatraanse den
English: Merkus pine. Sumatran pine, Philippine pine
Filipino: Mindoro Pine, tapulau
Finnish: Indonesianmänty
French: Pin de Sumatra
German: Merkus Kiefer
Hebrew: אורן מרקוס
Indonesian: Tusam sumatra, Tusam, Pinus sumatra, Damar batu, Damar bunga
Japanese: メルクシマツ
Polish: Sosna Merkusa
Portuguese: Pinheiro Merkus
Slovak: Borovica Merkusova
Spanish: Pino Merkus
Thai: สนสองใบ

Aryo Bandoro
Dlium TheDlium
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dlium
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) manufacture bubble-nets as tools to increase prey intake

NEWS - Humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) create bubble net tools while foraging, consisting of internal tangential rings, and actively control the number of rings, their size, depth and horizontal spacing between the surrounding bubbles. These structural elements of the net increase prey intake sevenfold. Researchers have known that humpback whales create “bubble nets” for hunting, but the new report shows that the animals also manipulate them in a variety of ways to maximize catches. The behavior places humpbacks among the rare animals that make and use their own tools. “Many animals use tools to help them find food, but very few actually make or modify these tools themselves,” said Lars Bejder, director of the Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP), University of Hawaii at Manoa. “Humpback whales in southeast Alaska create elaborate bubble nets to catch krill. They skillfully blow bubbles in patterns that form a web with internal rings. They actively control details such ...
Read more

Lolot (Piper sarmentosum)

Lolot pepper ( Piper sarmentosum ) is a species of plant in Piperaceae, perennial herb, erect or lodging, creeping rhizome, up to 120 cm long, branched, enlarged branches, cylindrical stems, brown or green, often grooved, growing on the forest floor and shade. P. sarmentosum has leaf stalks up to 15 cm long, up to 13 cm wide, green, alternately arranged, heart-shaped, pointed tips and flat margins. The leaves have 5 main veins from the base of the blade, linear and slightly curved to the tip, glands on the upper surface and many fine pinnate veins. The upper side is shiny green, the lower side is pale green. The flowers are white. The fruit grows in the upper armpit of the leaf, is slightly oval and green. The leaves are used as a medicine for asthma, malaria, stomach ache, tinea versicolor, toothache, difficulty urinating, aches and pains, maintaining stamina, antibacterial, antimicrobial, antioxidant, and so on. TAXON Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiosperma...
Read more

Cogon grass (Imperata cylindrica)

Cogon grass ( Imperata cylindrica ) is a species of plant in the Poaceae, an annual grass, sharp leaves, long and scaly shoots, creeping underground, white or purplish flowers, very adaptive and grows in all climates. I. cylindrica has sharply pointed shoot tips that emerge from the ground, up to 3 meters high, short stems, rising above the ground surface. Leaves are long ribbon-shaped, pointed tip, narrow base, up to 100 cm long, very rough and sharply serrated edges, long hairs at the base and wide veins. Inflorescences in panicles, up to 28 cm long, spikes long-haired and white to 1 cm. The seeds spread quickly with the wind or via rhizomes that quickly penetrate the soil. This species grows in tropical to subtropical areas, elevation up to 2000 meters, temperature 20-40C, rainfall 500-3500 mm/year, pH 4-7.5, lots of sunlight to a bit of shade. This plant dominates open land, former forests, dry rice fields, roadsides and so on. This plant contains mannitol, glucose, sacharose...
Read more