Skip to main content

Puspa (Schima wallichii)

Dlium Puspa (Schima wallichii)

Puspa (Schima wallichii) is a species of plant in Theaceae, a medium sized tree and producer of medium quality carpentry wood, spiral leaves, bell flowers, bulbous flowers, winged seeds, grows at elevations of up to 4000 meters and is widely used to make tools and construction materials.

S. wallichii has a height of up to 47 meters, stems cylindrical, up to 250 cm in diameter, branch-free up to 25 meters, the bark is cracked and forms longitudinal furrows, reddish brown to dark gray, the inside is bright red.







The leaves have a stalk of 3 mm and are spread in a spiral. Leaves oval to broad oblong, 6-13 cm long, 3-5 cm wide, wedge-shaped base, pointed tip, a large central vein and several lateral veins. Old leaves are green and thick, young leaves are reddish.

Flowers grow in the armpits at the tips of twigs and have protective leaves. The long-lived petals become fruit. The crown is white and attached at the base with many stamens in the middle. Fruits are round or square, 2-3 cm in diameter, open with five valves. The seeds are surrounded by wings.

This species lives in a variety of soils, climates and habitats. Often found abundantly in lowland primary forests, common in secondary forests and disturbed areas and grasslands up to 4000 meters elevation.

The wood is of good quality for home interiors, pillars, doors, windows, wood panels, flooring, tools and furniture, farm equipment, boat interiors, boxes and packing crates. The wood is also good for plywood, fiberboard, bridges and railroad sleepers.

The heartwood is reddish brown or gray brown, the sapwood is lighter in color and has no clear boundaries. Fine texture and smooth surface with straight or blended grain directions. Puspa wood has durability class III which is resistant to attack by dry wood termites, but not resistant to wood rot fungi. This wood is easily turned, planed, drilled, sanded and varnished with good results.

This tree produces good quality firewood with 19,980 kJ/kg. The bark produces a coloring agent, the tannins contained in it are used to tan the skin and poison fish. Leaves for animal feed. Flowers and fruit are dried as an astringent. The tree is also used for shade in coffee plantations, land reclamation and reforestation of water catchments.

TAXON

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Ericales
Family: Theaceae
Genus: Schima Reinw. ex Blume in Catalogus: 80 (1823)
Species: Schima wallichii (DC.) Korth. in Verh. Nat. Gesch. Ned. Bezitt., Bot.: 143 (1842)

HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS

Gordonia wallichii DC. in Prodr. 1: 528 (1824)
Schima wallichii var. obtusata Choisy in H.Zollinger, Syst. Verz. Ind. Archip. 2: 144 (1854)

HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS

Gordonia chilaunea Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don in Prodr. Fl. Nepal.: 225 (1825)
Gordonia floribunda Wall. in Numer. List: n.° 1456 (1829)
Gordonia integrifolia Roxb. in Fl. Ind., ed. 1832. 2: 572 (1832)
Gordonia mollis Wall. (1829)
Gordonia oblata Roxb. (1832)
Schima antherisosa Korth. in Verh. Nat. Gesch. Ned. Bezitt., Bot.: 145 (1842)
Schima bancana Miq. in Ann. Mus. Bot. Lugduno-Batavi 4: 113 (1869)
Schima brevipes Craib in Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 1915: 423 (1915)
Schima hypochra Pierre in Fl. Forest. Cochinch.: t. 121 (1887)
Schima hypoglauca Miq. in Fl. Ned. Ind., Eerste Bijv.: 484 (1861)
Schima lowii Pierre (1887)
Schima mollis Dyer in J.D.Hooker, Fl. Brit. India 1: 288 (1874)
Schima monticola Kurz in J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, Pt. 2, Nat. Hist. 43: 93 (1874)
Schima pulgarensis Elmer in Leafl. Philipp. Bot. 5: 1843 (1913)
Schima rigida Miq. (1869)
Schima sericea Airy Shaw in Hooker's Icon. Pl. 34: t. 3309 (1936)
Schima sulcinervia Miq. (1869)

PUBLICATIONS

Barooah, C. & Ahmed, I. (2014). Plant diversity of Assam. A checklist of Angiosperms and Gymnosperms: 1-599. Assam science technology and environment council, India.

Chou, S., Chhnang, P. & Kim, Y. (2016). A Checklist for the Seed Plants of Cambodia: 1-272. National Institute of Biological Resources, Korea.

Girmansyah, D. & al. (eds.) (2013). Flora of Bali an annotated checklist: 1-158. Herbarium Bogorensis, Indonesia.

Grierson, A.J.C. & Long, D.G. (1984). Flora of Bhutan 1(2): 189-462. Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh.

Hara, H., Stearn, W.T. & Williams, H.J. (1979). An Enumeration of the Flowering Plants of Nepal 2: 1-220. Trustees of British Museum, London.

Kress, W.J., DeFilipps, R.A., Farr, E. & Kyi, D.Y.Y. (2003). A Checklist of the Trees, Shrubs, Herbs and Climbers of Myanmar. Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 45: 1-590. Smithsonian Institution.

Lê, T.C. (2003). Danh lục các loài thực vật Việt Nam 2: 1-1203. Hà Nội : Nhà xuất bản Nông nghiệp.

Mao, A.A. & Dash, S.S. (2020). Flowering Plants of India an Annotated Checklist (Dicotyledons) 1: 1-970. Botanical Survey of India.

Newman, M., Ketphanh, S., Svengsuksa, B., Thomas, P., Sengdala, K., Lamxay, V. & Armstrong, K. (2007). A checklist of the vascular plants of Lao PDR: 1-394. Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh.

Nguyễn, H.H. (2017). Thực Vật Chí Việt Nam. Flora of Vietnam 19: 1-357. Nhà xuất bản khoa học và kỹ thuật, Hà Nội.

Pasha, M.K. & Uddin, S.B. (2013). Dictionary of plant names of Bangladesh, Vasc. Pl.: 1-434. Janokalyan Prokashani, Chittagong, Bangladesh.

Turner, I.M. (1995 publ. 1997). A catalogue of the Vascular Plants of Malaya. Gardens' Bulletin Singapore 47(2): 347-655.

Wu, Z., Raven, P.H. & Hong, D. (eds.) (2007). Flora of China 12: 1-534. Science Press (Beijing) & Missouri Botanical Garden Press (St. Louis).

VERNACULAR NAME

Bangka: Mĕdang sĕru, Sĕru
Batak: Simartolu, Parakpak
Chinese (simplified): 红木荷 - 西南木荷
Chinese (traditional): 紅木荷
English: Puspa, Needlewood tree
Indonesian: Puspa
Java: Puspa
Ketapang: Penaga
Komering: Huru batu, Huru manuk, Puspa
Lampung: Kĕmĕtru
Minangkabau: Medang miang
Sunda: Cikoru, Cekru, Ceheru, Cihu
Thai: มังตาน(ทะโล้)

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

Popular Posts

Black jumping spider (Hyllus diardi)

Black jumping spider ( Hyllus diardi ) is an animal species in the Salticidae, black and white spiders, long hair, round head, elongated belly, relatively small, arboreal, perched on leaves in bushes and low trees in forests and agricultural lands. H. diardi has black and white color, shiny surface and white hair all over the body. The head is round, shiny black with a linear white line in the middle. Black eyes on the front of the head. The stomach has an elongated, jointed, black cylindrical shape with black plots at the top of each segment. The legs are long, segmented, shiny black or brownish in color and hairy. Black jumping spiders live arboreal, perch on leaf surfaces, low bushes, trees in forests, agricultural land, roadsides and shade. Very sensitive to human presence and will hide behind leaves to avoid sight. Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Subphylum: Chelicerata Class: Arachnida Order: Araneae Suborder: Araneomorphae Infraorder: Entelegynae Superfamily: Salticoi...
Read more

Awar awar (Ficus septica)

Awar-awar or lagnob or hauli tree or barabar or sirih popar or tobo tobo ( Ficus septica ) is species of plants in Moraceae, trees grow in bushes or in neglected places and sap contained in roots, twigs, leaves and fruit is used to treat poisoning and digestive problems. F. septica is usually 1-5 m high, although in the forest it can be up to 25 m. Round, hollow and bare branches. Roots, twigs, leaves and fruit will emit a yellow sap and sticky if injured. The base of the leaves is large and spiky, arranged alternately or face to face with a stem length of 2.5-5 cm. Large leaf blade, round egg, 9-30x9-16 cm, rounded base and blunt narrow tip, flat-edged, upper side dark green with 6-12 secondary bones pale white. Fruit paired, single or clustered up to 4 items, short-stemmed, at the base has 3 protective leaves, light green or gray green and 1.5 cm in diameter. F. septica is food for 22 animal species including wasps, bats, birds, monkeys and mice as well as seed dispersing vecto...
Read more

Hairy senna (Senna hirsuta)

Hairy senna ( Senna hirsuta ) is a species of plant in the Fabaceae family. It is an upright shrub, growing up to 2.5 meters tall. The leaves are compound on petioles up to 13 cm long. They usually have 2-6 pairs of leaflets, are egg-shaped, and have white hairs, up to 10 cm long and 5 cm wide. The flowers are yellow and arranged at the tips of branches and in the upper leaf axils in clusters of 2-5. The petals are 12-16 mm long, have 6 stamens, 3-8 mm long anthers, and 4 staminodes. Flowering occurs almost monthly. The pods are cylindrical, up to 15 cm long, 4-6 mm wide, and curved. TAXON Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Fabales Family: Fabaceae Subfamily: Caesalpinioideae Tribe: Cassieae Subtribe: Cassiinae Genus: Senna Mill. in Gard. Dict. Abr., ed. 4.: [s.p.] (1754) Species: Senna hirsuta (L.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby in Phytologia 44: 499 (1979) Variety: Senna hirsuta var. acuminata (Benth.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby, Senna ...
Read more