Octomeles sumatrana
Octomeles sumatrana
Safety & Hazards
None known
Cultivation Details
A tree of the moist, lowland tropics where it is generally found at elevations below 1,000 metres[1]. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 29 - 34°c, but can tolerate 20 - 38°c[2]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 3,000 - 4,000mm, but tolerates 2,000 - 5,000mm[2]. Requires a sunny position[3]. Succeeds in alluvial soils, clays and sandy loams[3]. Prefers a pH in the range 4.5 - 5.5, tolerating 4 - 6.5[2]. Trees can be exceptionally fast growing, with one report of a 4-year old specimen having attained a height of 25 metres and a bole diameter of 47cm[1]. Annual wood production potential is 25 - 40 cubic metres per hectare[2]. Trees are resistant to fire damage[1]. A dioecious species, both male and female forms need to be grown if seed is required[3].
Propagation
Seed - it has a fairly short viability and should be sown before it is 12 months old[1]. It does not have a dormancy, and pre-treatment is not necessary. It probably germinates better in a sunny position. Seeds are sown in a nursery seedbed and only just covered, Germination will usually take place within 7 days. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they have 4 leaves and place in semi-shade for one week before returning them to a sunny position[3]. Plant out when 30cm tall, which is usually when they are less than 4 months old[3, 4]. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Octomeles+sumatrana>
Pollinators
?Bees, ?Wind
References
- [1]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
- [2]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.
- [3]Seed Leaflets — Various · Forest & Landscape. Denmark · http://en.sl.life.ku.dk/Publikationer/Udgivelser/PopulaerPublikationer.aspx?katid={D28373CC-6EF3-4EF8-B097-6D83FABF209E}&serieid={9F1C3DB1-6E7B-4CF1-AF53-F480B0CB40EF}&sort=title ↩︎A series of leaflets, jointly produced by the University of Copenhagen and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, focussing on seed information for a number species, but also giving a lot of other information about each plant.
- [4]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.
- [5]An ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants used in the East Sepik province of Papua New Guinea — Koch M. et al · 2015 · http://10.1186/s13002-015-0065-8 ↩︎