''Koompassia excelsa'' (known as tualang in Peninsula Malaysia, tapang in Sarawak, mangaris in Sabah, and bangris in Kalimantan ) is an emergent tropical rainforest tree species in the family

Fabaceae The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomenc ...

. It is found in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand. It is one of the tallest tropical tree species: the tallest measured specimen is 85.8 m or 88 m(281 or 289 ft) tall. These grow mostly in lowland rainforests where they tower over the canopy. Like most tall rainforest trees they have huge

buttress roots Buttress roots also known as plank roots are large, wide roots on all sides of a shallowly rooted tree. Typically, they are found in nutrient-poor tropical forest soils that may not be very deep. They prevent the tree from falling over (hence t ...

to support their weight. This is because the majority of the nutrients in rainforest soil are very near the surface, making large spreading roots more effective than deep ones. They grow branches above the canopy (around 30 m or 100 ft) and have slippery trunks which protect them from

sun bear The sun bear (''Helarctos malayanus'') is a species in the family Ursidae (the only species in the genus ''Helarctos'') occurring in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. It is the smallest bear, standing nearly at the shoulder and weighing ...

s, making them in turn attractive to giant honey bees ''

Apis dorsata ''Apis dorsata'', the giant honey bee, सिङ्गुस in Nepali, is a honey bee of South and Southeast Asia, found mainly in forested areas such as the Terai of Nepal. They are typically around long. Nests are mainly built in exposed pla ...

'' which hang their huge combs from the branches. The bees also protect the trees from loggers, as the value of the honey is higher than that of the timber. There is a long history in Borneo of the honey combs being collected by native climbers using bamboo ladders built into the trunk, and protected by smoke. This is reflected in the title of a book of 'Poems and Chants of Sarawak Dayaks'.,Rubenstein, Carol, (1985)
The Honey Tree Song
Ohio University Press which expands on the cultural significance of this tree which links the earth to the sky... Logging tapang trees is a native taboo in parts of Sarawak, and only naturally fallen trees (due to storms) are used for timber.

References

Dialioideae Flora of Malesia Flora of Thailand Taxa named by Odoardo Beccari Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Fabaceae-stub

See also

References