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Vateria indica
Dipterocarpaceae FAMILY Critically Endangered

Vateria indica

Vateria indica

Edibility
3/5
Medicinal
3/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitEvergreen Tree
GrowthSlow

A tree of low to moderate elevations in the moist, monsoonal tropics, where it can be found at elevations up to 1,200 metres[1]. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 24 - 33°c, but can tolerate 17 - 38°c[1]. It can be killed by temperatures below 14°c[1]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall of 2,500 - 3,000mm, but tolerates 2,000 - 3,500mm[1]. Succeeds in full sun and also, especially when young, in fairly dense shade[1]. Prefers a light, fairly fertile, well-drained soil[1]. Prefers a pH in the range 5 - 6, tolerating 4.5 - 6.9[1]. The resin is obtained by cutting notches in the tree, from which it exudes and gradually hardens[2]. Specimens differ much in colour, fragrance and density; some being of a light greenish colour, dense, homogeneous and vitreous on fracture, whilst others are amber coloured, and vesicular. These differences apparently arise from the mode of collection; and the age of the trees producing them[2].

Propagation

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

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]Pharmacographia Indica — Dymock W.; Warden C.J.H.; Hooper D. · Education Society's Press, Byculla; Mombai. · 1890 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org ↩︎Information on the principal plant medicines encountered in India in the 19th century.
  3. [3]The Commercial Products of India. — Watts. Sir George. · John Murray, London. · 1908 ↩︎A classic, with a comprehensive (as then known) listing of useful plants that were traded commercially at that time. It can be downloaded from various sites on the Internet.
  4. [4]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.
  5. [5]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.
  6. [6]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.
  7. [7]Indian Medicinal Plants; An Illustrated Dictionary — Khare C.P. (Ed.) · Springer-Verlag Berlin/Heidelberg · 2007 · ISBN 978-0-387-70637-5 ↩︎
  8. [8]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
  9. [9]Oil Yielding Plants — Botanical Survey of India. · 2004 · http://mnes.nic.in/list/oil-plants.pdf ↩︎A PDF downloaded from the Internet. Very terse details about the applications of oil obtained from over 300 species of plants.
  10. [10]Ferns and Man in New Guinea — Croft. J. · 1982 · http://www.anbg.gov.au/fern/ferns-man-ng.html ↩︎Based on a paper presented to Papua New Guinea Botany Society in 1982, gives a brief guide to the uses of 42 species of fern in New Guinea. Published on the internet.