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Oriental cheesewood (Nauclea orientalis)

Dlium Oriental cheesewood (Nauclea orientalis)

Oriental cheesewood (Nauclea orientalis) is a species of plant in the Rubiaceae, a low to tall tree, straight trunk, cylindrical, shedding leaves during the dry season, fragrant flowers and fruit, used for wood carving and traditional medicine.

N. orientalis has a straight trunk up to 30 meters high, the bark may be smooth or cracked and grayish in color, many branches in all directions, the wood is soft and yellowish to orange in color.



Leaves have stalks and sit opposite. The strands are broad ovate, up to 30 cm long, the upper side is green or orange, the lower side has prominent venation. Interpetiolar stipules. On the inner surface has a number of small red glands.

The inflorescences are fragrant, spherical and yellowish to orange in color with white stamens. Individual flowers are 8-10 mm long and 3-5 mm in diameter. Perianth consists of 5 petals and sepals in separate circles. The inner surface of the crown is yellow to orange in color and has a sweet smell.

Flowers are bisexual, 5 short and separate stamens attached to the perianth. The petals fuse together to form a round flower head. Epigynous with an inferior ovary located below the attachment of the rest of the flower.

The flower head develops into a compound fruit with a syncarp that joins the petals and each flower becomes a small fruit containing 1 seed. 4-5 cm in diameter, rugose, brown, very aromatic and unbreakable. Seeds ovoid to ellipsoidal and 1-10 mm long.

TAXON

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Gentianales
Family: Rubiaceae
Subfamily: Cinchonoideae
Tribe: Naucleeae
Genus: Nauclea L. in Sp. Pl., ed. 2.: 243 (1762)
Species: Nauclea orientalis (L.) L. in Sp. Pl., ed. 2.: 243 (1762)

HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS

Adina orientalis (L.) Lindeman ex Bakh.f. in Taxon 19: 476 (1970)
Bancalus orientalis (L.) Kuntze in Revis. Gen. Pl. 1: 277 (1891)
Cephalanthus orientalis L. in Sp. Pl.: 95 (1753)
Sarcocephalus orientalis (L.) Merr. in Philipp. J. Sci., C 3: 436 (1909)

HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS

Bancalus grandifolius Kuntze (1891)
Cadamba nocturna Buch.-Ham. in Trans. Linn. Soc. London 15: 93 (1827)
Nauclea annamensis (Dubard & Eberh.) Merr. in J. Wash. Acad. Sci. 5: 535 (1915)
Nauclea coadunata Roxb. ex Sm. in A.Rees, Cycl. 24: n.° 6 (1813)
Nauclea cordata Roxb. in Fl. Ind. 2: 118 (1824)
Nauclea elmeri Merr. (1915)
Nauclea glaberrima Bartl. ex DC. in Prodr. 4: 344 (1830)
Nauclea grandifolia DC. (1830)
Nauclea leichhardtii F.Muell. in Essay Pl. Burdekin: 12 (1860)
Nauclea lutea Blanco in Fl. Filip.: 141 (1837)
Nauclea macrophylla Blume in Bijdr. Fl. Ned. Ind.: 1010 (1826)
Nauclea orientalis var. pubescens (Kurz) Craib in Fl. Siam. 2: 7 (1932)
Nauclea ovoidea (Pierre ex Pit.) N.N.Tran in J. Biol. (Vietnam) 1(3): 24 (1979)
Nauclea roxburghii G.Don in Gen. Hist. 3: 469 (1834)
Nauclea stipulacea G.Don (1834)
Nauclea undulata Roxb. (1824)
Nauclea wallichiana R.Br. ex G.Don (1834)
Platanocarpum cordatum (Roxb.) Korth. in Observ. Naucl. Indic.: 19 (1839)
Sarcocephalus annamensis Dubard & Eberh. in Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. 15: 493 (1909)
Sarcocephalus buruensis Miq. in Ann. Mus. Bot. Lugduno-Batavi 4: 179 (1869)
Sarcocephalus coadunatus (Roxb. ex Sm.) Druce in Rep. Bot. Soc. Exch. Club Brit. Isles 4: 644 (1917)
Sarcocephalus cordatus (Roxb.) Miq. in Fl. Ned. Ind. 2: 133 (1856)
Sarcocephalus cordatus var. glabra Kurz in J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, Pt. 2, Nat. Hist. 46: 125 (1877)
Sarcocephalus cordatus var. mollis Koord. & Valeton in Bijdr. Boomsoort. Java 8: 15 (1902)
Sarcocephalus cordatus var. pubescens Kurz (1877)
Sarcocephalus glaberrimus (Bartl. ex DC.) Miq. (1856)
Sarcocephalus ovatus Elmer in Leafl. Philipp. Bot. 1: 33 (1906)
Sarcocephalus ovoideus Pierre ex Pit. in H.Lecomte, Fl. Indo-Chine 3: 28 (1922)
Sarcocephalus papagola Domin in Biblioth. Bot. 22(89): 614 (1929)
Sarcocephalus undulatus (Roxb.) Miq. (1856)
Sarcocephalus undulatus var. buruensis (Miq.) Havil. in J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 33: 29 (1897)

PUBLICATIONS

Govaerts, R. (2003). World Checklist of Selected Plant Families Database in ACCESS: 1-216203. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

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

Puff, C., Chayamarit, K., Chamchumroon, V. & Esser, H.-J. (2021). Flora of Thailand 15(1): 1-235. The Forest Herbarium, National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, Bangkok.

Smith, A.C. (1988). Flora Vitiensis Nova. A new flora for Fiji (Spermatophytes only) 4: 1-377. Pacific Tropical Botanical Garden, Lawai.

VERNACULAR NAME

Australia: Leichhardt tree
Chinese (simplified): 东方乌檀
Chinese (traditional): 東方烏檀
English: Oriental cheesewood, Canary Cheesewood, Leichhardt tree, Bur tree, Yellow chessewood
Filipino: Bangkal
Guangdong: 東方烏檀
Hong Kong: 東方烏檀
Indonesian:Bangkal, Gempol, Bengkel, Lonkida, Kaula
Java: Gempol
Macao: 東方烏檀
Russian: Науклея восточная
Slovak: Mäkkohlávka východná
Taiwan: 東方烏檀
Thai: ก้านเหลือง

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