DIPTEROCARPACEAE

'Dipterocarpaceae' is a family of 17 genera and approximately 580-680 species of mainly tropical lowland rainforest trees with two-winged fruits. The largest genera are ''Shorea'' (360 species), ''Hopea'' (105 species), ''Dipterocarpus'' (70 species), and ''Vatica'' (60 species). Many are large forest emergent species, typically reaching heights of 40-70 m tall, with the tallest known living specimen over 85 m tall. The species of this family are of major importance in the timber trade. Their distribution is pantropical, from northern South America to Africa, the Seychelles, India, Indochina and Malaysia, with the greatest diversity and abundance in western Malaysia. Some species are now endangered as a result of overcutting and extensive illegal logging. They provide valuable woods, aromatic essential oils, balsam, resins and as a source for plywood.
Because most specimens are illegally harvested, Greenpeace suggests that consumers avoid using meranti.[1]
The dipterocarp family is generally divided into three subfamilies:

★ Monotoideae: 3 genera, 30 species. ''Marquesia'' is native to Africa. ''Monotes'' has 26 species, distributed across Africa and Madagascar. ''Pseudomonotes'' is native to the Colombian Amazon.

★ Pakaraimoideae: contains a single species, ''Pakaraimaea roraimae'', found in the Guaianan highlands of South America.

★ Dipterocarpoideae: the largest of the subfamilies, it contains 13 genera and 470-650 species. Distribution includes the Seychelles, Sri Lanka, India, Southeast Asia to New Guinea, but mostly in west Malaysia, where they form the dominant species in the lowland forests. The Dipterocarpoideae can be divided into two groups (Ashton, 1982; and Maury-Lechon and Curtet, 1998):

★
★ Valvate-Dipterocarpi group (''Anisoptera, Cotylelobium, Dipterocarpus, Stemonoporus, Upuna, Vateria, Vateriopsis, Vatica''). The genera of this group have valvate sepals in fruit, solitary vessels, scattered resin canals, and basic chromosome number x = 11.

★
★ Imbricate-Shoreae group (''Balanocarpus, Hopea, Parashorea, Shorea''). The genera of this group have imbricate sepals in fruit, grouped vessels, resin canals in tangential bands, and basic chromosome number x = 7. A recent molecular study (Dayanandan ''et. al.'', 1999) suggest that the genus ''Hopea'' forms a clade with ''Shorea'' sections ''Anthoshorea'' and ''Doona'', and should be merged into ''Shorea''.
A recent genetic study (Ducousso ''et. al.'' 2004) found that the Asian dipterocarps share a common ancestor with the Sarcolaenaceae, a tree family endemic to Madagascar. This suggests that ancestor of the Dipterocarps originated in the southern supercontinent of Gondwana, and that the common ancestor of the Asian dipterocarps and the Sarcolaenaceae was found in the India-Madagascar-Seychelles land mass millions of years ago, and were carried northward by India, which later collided with Asia and allowed the dipterocarps to spread across Southeast Asia and Malaysia.

Timbers

The following table associates tree species, wood name and wood color. The term 'Philippine red mahogany' refers to the wood of trees belonging to the genera ''Shorea'' and ''Parashorea''.

Genus & section

Species

Wood name

Wood colour

Wood type

''Anisoptera''

''A. cochinchinensis, A. marginata, A. scaphula, A. thurifera'' and about ten other species

'Mersawa'

light hardwood

''Cotylelobium''

''C. burckii, C. lanceolatum, C. melanoxylon''

'Resak'

heavy hardwood

''Dipterocarpus''

''D. alatus, D. baudii, D. basilanicus, D. borneensis, D. caudiferus, D. costulatus, D. grandiflorus, D. kerrii, D. tonkinensis, D. verrucosus, D. warburgii'', and about 60 other species

'Keruing'

medium hardwood

''Dryobalanops''

''D. aromatica, D. camphora, D. junghunii, D. kayanensis, D. lanceolata, D. oblongifolia, D. sumatrensis''

'Kapur', 'Kapor'

medium hardwood

''Hopea''

''H. acuminata, H. beccariana, H. dryobalanoides, H. mengarawan, H. nervosa, H. odorata, H. sangal'' and other species

'Merawan'

medium hardwood

''Hopea''

''H. ferrea, H. forbesii, H. helferi, H. nutans, H. semicuneata'' and other species

'Giam'

heavy hardwood

''Neobalanocarpus''

''N. heimii''

'Cengal'

heavy hardwood

''Parashorea''

''P. aptera, P. buchananii, P. chinensis, P. densiflora, P. globosa, P. lucida, P. macrophylla, P. malaanonan, P. parvifolia, P. smythiesii, P. stellata, P. tomentella''

'Gerutu'

light hardwood

''Parashorea''

''Parashorea plicata''

'Bagtikan'

grey-brown

''Shorea'' ''(Pentacme)''

''S. contorta, S. minandensis''

'White Lauan'

grey to very light red

''Shorea'' sect. ''Shorea''

''S. atrinervosa, S. brunnescens, S. crassa, S. exelliptica, S. foxworthyi, S. glauca, S. havilandii, S. laevis, S. leptoderma, S. materialis, S. maxwelliana, S. seminis, S. submontana, S. sumatrana, S. superba''

'Balau'

heavy hardwood

''Shorea'' sect. ''Almon''

''S. almon, S. contorta, S. leprosula, S. leptoclados, S. smithiana''

'Almon'

light red to pink

''Shorea'' sect. ''Anthoshorea''

''S. assamica, S. assamica, S. bracteolata, S. dealbata, S. hypochra, S. javanica, S. lamellata, S. maranti''

'White Meranti'

light hardwood

''Shorea'' sect. ''Richetia''

''S. acuminatissima, S. faguetiana, S. gibbosa, S. hopeifolia, S. multiflora''