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
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