PlantPeers
Back to Catalog
Dipterocarpus costatus
Dipterocarpaceae FAMILY Endangered

Dipterocarpus costatus

Dipterocarpus costatus

Edibility
0/5
Medicinal
1/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitSemi-deciduous Tree
GrowthSlow

A plant of the moist tropical lowlands, where it can be found at elevations up to 1,000 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 21 - 31°c, though it can tolerate 10 - 38°c[1]. It is killed by temperatures of 5°c or lower[1]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall of 2,800 - 3,500mm, but can tolerate 2,500 - 4,500mm[1]. Young trees are very shade tolerant, and can be damaged by too much exposure to the sun. As they grow older, however, they become increasingly intolerant of shade[1]. Prefers a medium to heavy soil[1]. Prefers a pH in the range 5 - 6, tolerating 4.5 - 6.5[1]. Trees are relatively slow-growing[1]. Members of this genus generally only regenerate naturally in the shade of the forest. Seedlings and saplings can persist in dense forest shade for many years. In their first 2 years the young plants cannot tolerate major openings in the canopy, but after they are well established (about 120cm tall) the canopy can be opened up around them to speed up their growth[2]. This species hybridizes in the wild with D. Obtusifolius in Thailand and with D. Gracilis in Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia[3].

Propagation

Seed - Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Dipterocarpus+costatus>

Pollinators

Data unavailable

References

  1. [1]Ecocrop — http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home ↩︎Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
  2. [2]Digital Compendium of Forestry Species of Cambodia — www.digitalspecies.blogspot.com; Phnom Penh · 2008 · http://www.digitalspecies.blogspot.com ↩︎A very detailed booklet, produced in PDF format on the internet, giving information on around 100 species of trees.
  3. [3]IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — http://www.iucnredlist.org/ ↩︎A list of plants under threat and facing possible extinction, usually with brief details of the threats and information on habitat.
  4. [4]Biotik, Laos — http://biotik.org/species_list_laos.html ↩︎Information on more than 100 species of Laotian trees.
  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]Vegetable Gums and Resins. — Howes. F. N. · Faber · ISBN 81-88818-17-8 ↩︎A very good book dealing with the subject in a readable way.
  7. [7]A Manual of Indian Timbers. — Gamble. J. S. · Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh · 1972 · ISBN - ↩︎First written in the 19th century, but still a classic, giving a lot of information on the uses and habitats of Indian trees. Not for the casual reader.
  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.