''Palaquium hexandrum'' is a tree in the family Sapotaceae. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''hexandrum'' means 'six stamens', referring to the flowers.

Description

''Palaquium hexandrum'' grows up to tall, with a trunk diameter of up to . The bark is dark brown. The

inflorescences An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

bear up to 18 flowers. The edible fruits are round or

ovoid An oval () is a closed curve in a plane which resembles the outline of an egg. The term is not very specific, but in some areas (projective geometry, technical drawing, etc.) it is given a more precise definition, which may include either one or ...

, up to long.

Distribution and habitat

''Palaquium hexandrum'' is native to

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

Peninsular Malaysia Peninsular Malaysia ( ms, Semenanjung Malaysia; Jawi: سمننجڠ مليسيا), or the States of Malaya ( ms, Negeri-negeri Tanah Melayu; Jawi: نڬري-نڬري تانه ملايو), also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, ...

and

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

. Its habitat is lowland forests, sometimes riverine.

Uses

The seeds of ''Palaquium hexandrum'' are used in cooking. The latex is used to make

gutta-percha Gutta-percha is a tree of the genus ''Palaquium'' in the family Sapotaceae. The name also refers to the rigid, naturally biologically inert, resilient, electrically nonconductive, thermoplastic latex derived from the tree, particularly from ' ...

. The timber is harvested and traded as

nyatoh Nyatoh is a trade name for wood of a number of hardwood species of the genera ''Palaquium'' and '' Payena'' growing in rainforest environments in southeast Asia, especially in Indonesia and the Philippines. Nyatoh wood is reddish and most species ...

Conservation

''Palaquium hexandrum'' has been assessed as

near threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify fo ...

on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

. The significant threat to the species is deforestation: in Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo for conversion of land to palm oil cultivation.

References

hexandrum Trees of Sumatra Trees of Peninsular Malaysia Trees of Borneo Plants described in 1854 Taxa named by Henri Ernest Baillon Taxa named by William Griffith (botanist) {{Sapotaceae-stub