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Meliaceae FAMILY

Dysoxylum excelsum

Dysoxylum excelsum

Edibility
1/5
Medicinal
1/5

Safety & Hazards

The bark shows piscicidal and insecticidal properties and is sometimes poisonous to humans[1].

Cultivation Details

HabitEvergreen Tree
Growth—

A plant of low to moderate elevations in the tropics. Succeeding from sea level up to around 1,500 metres[1]. Succeeds in clayey to sandy soils[1]. In natural forest in West Java, at an altitude of 1,100 - 1,500 metres, Dysoxylum species were among the few major commercial species[1]. Their natural regeneration, however, was very erratic. The few seedlings which did come up, were found in open areas as well as under shade and had a height increment of only about 25cm in three years[1]. Dysoxylum species are not resistant to fire and seedlings die in 7 - 11 days when exposed to waterlogged conditions[1]. Locally in Papua New Guinea Dysoxylum species may constitute 4% of the total exploitable timber volume of trees over 50 cm diameter[1]. A dioecious species, both male and female forms need to be grown if fruit and seed are required[1]. The plant occasionally also has some bisexual flowers[1].

Propagation

Seed - when sown fresh with the pulp still adhering, the seeds have a germination rate of 80% in 1 - 4 months[1]. Seeds sown without the pulp generally germinate faster than those sown with pulp. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Dysoxylum+excelsum>

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]Tree Flora of Sabah and Sarawak Vols 1 - 6 — Soepadmo E.; Saw L.G.; Chung R.C.K. (Editors) · Forest Research Institute Malaysia; Kuala Lumpur. · 2002 · ISBN 983-2181-27-5 ↩︎A flora of the woody plants of Sabah and Sarawak on the island of Borneo, often giving details of plant uses.
  3. [3]Trees of Sungai Wain — http://www.nationaalherbarium.nl/Sungaiwain/ ↩︎An excellent site with factsheets on almost 1,000 species of forest trees growing at Sungai Wain in Indonesia. Each factsheet has good quality pictures plus basic information on the ecology and uses of the plants.
  4. [4]Plant Resources of Southeast Asia — http://proseanet.org/ ↩︎Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
  5. [5]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.
  6. [6]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
  7. [7]Identification and utilization of lesser-known commercial timbers in Peninsular Malaysia 7 — Lim S.C.; Gan K.S. · Forest Research Institute Malaysia · 2006 · https://info.frim.gov.my/infocenter/booksonline/ttb/TTBno41.pdf · ISBN 139-258 ↩︎Part of an excellent series of publications, this one giving a brief guide to four groups of lesser known commercial timbers from southeast Asia. It can be downloaded in PDF format from the Internet.