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Canarium vulgare
Burseraceae FAMILY

Canarium vulgare

Canarium vulgare

Edibility
4/5
Medicinal
1/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitDeciduous Tree
GrowthFast

A tree of the lowland tropics, succeeding at elevations up to 1,200 metres[1]. Seedling trees begin to bear crops of seeds when about 6 - 8 years old[2]. Wild forms usually have three, sometimes two kernels present in the nut, each in its own compartment[3]. In the case of cultivated trees, however, only one kernel may be present in each nut[3]. When this is so, the kernel is proportionately larger and the nut easier to crack[3]. The seeds can vary considerably in shape and quality from tree to tree[3]. Flowering and fruiting can occur throughout the year[1].

Propagation

Seed - it has a hard seed coat and germinates erratically. Filing away some of the seed coat to allow moisture to enter more readily, without damaging the seed, will encourage a faster and more even germination[4]. Treated seed generally has about 85% viability[1]. Air-dry seed can be stored without temperature control for several months up to 1.5 years, without losing its viability. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Canarium+vulgare>

Pollinators

Insects

References

  1. [1]World Agroforesty Centre — http://www.worldagroforestry.org/ ↩︎An excellent online database of a huge range of trees giving very good information on each plant - its uses, ecology, identity, propagation, pests etc.
  2. [2]Tropical and Subtropical Trees - A Worldwide Encyclopaedic Guide. — Barwick. M. · Thames & Hudson, London · 2004 · ISBN 0-500-51181-0 ↩︎A superb book, very concise and well written, giving a wealth of information on 400 or more species including descriptions, habitat, cultivation details and plant uses. A wealth of colour photographs bring each plant vividly to life.
  3. [3]Nuts. — Howes. F. N. · Faber · 1948 · ISBN - ↩︎Rather old but still a masterpiece. Has sections on tropical and temperate plants with edible nuts plus a section on nut plants in Britain. Very readable.
  4. [4]Food Plants of Papua New Guinea — French. B.R. · Author. · 2006 ↩︎Published on-line in PDF format, this book contains information on several hundred New Guinea food plants.
  5. [5]Flora Malesiana Series 1 — Various · Nationaal Herbarium Nederiand, Universiteit Leiden branch · http://www.archive.org ↩︎A massive treatment of the plants of the Malaysian Archipelago. Much of it has been made available to download from the Internet
  6. [6]Guide to the Trees of Papua New Guinea — Conn. B.J. & Damas. K.Q. · http://www.pngplants.org/PNGtrees/ ↩︎An Internet site giving good descriptions of the trees of Papua New Guinea.
  7. [7]Cornucopia II — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications, California. · 1998 · ISBN 0-9628087-2-5 ↩︎The second edition of an excellent guide to the edible uses of plants, though it does not give any details of cultivation etc.
  8. [8]Tropical Timbers of the World. Ag. Handbook No. 607. — Chudnoff. Martin. · USDA Forest Service. Wisconsin. · 1984 ↩︎Terse details on the properties of the wood of almost 400 species of trees from the Tropics.
  9. [9]Tropix 7 — CIRAD · http://tropix.cirad.fr/en ↩︎An on-line guide to the timbers of 245 species of trees.