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Xylocarpus granatum
Meliaceae FAMILY

Xylocarpus granatum

Xylocarpus granatum

Edibility
1/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitEvergreen Tree
Growth—

A plant of the wet lowland tropics. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 22 - 30°c, but can tolerate 10 - 40°c[1]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 2,000 - 3,000mm, but tolerates 1,400 - 5,000mm[1]. Grows best in a sunny position, tolerating light shade, especially when small[2, 1]. Succeeds in sandy to clayey soils, preferring fertile conditions[1]. Tolerant of quite high levels of salt in the soil[1]. Plants are tolerant of seasonally inundated soils[1]. Prefers a pH in the range 6.8 - 7.2, tolerating 6.5 - 7.5[1]. The tree recovers easily after the bark has been harvested by peeling it from the trunks[2]. The trees often produce basal suckers when they are damaged, and plants can sometimes develop several trunks[3]. The roots frequently extend for a considerable distance through the mud[4]. Flowers are functionally unisexual, male flowers having a non-functional, rather slender ovary, female flowers having non-functional stamens either never dehiscent or with sterile pollen[3]. It has been observed that certain individuals, although flowering profusely, never produce fruit; this suggests that dioecism sometimes occurs[3]. The corky testa of the seed represents an adaption to dispersal by water, and seeds may start to germinate while still floating[3].

Propagation

Seed - after falling from the parent plant, they float just below the water surface and are dispersed by ocean currents. Seed viability decreases rapidly upon storage. Seeds should be sown with the convex side upwards. They show about 70% germination in 4 - 10 weeks. Seedlings can attain 50cm height in 3 months[2]. Direct sowing has been successfully applied in a trial plantation[2] Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Xylocarpus+granatum>

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]Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. — http://www.prota.org ↩︎An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
  3. [3]Plant Resources of Southeast Asia — http://proseanet.org/ ↩︎Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
  4. [4]Minor Products of Philippine Forests — Brown. W. H. · Bureau of Forestry, Manilla. · 1920 ↩︎A useful guide to some of the plants of the area, though terse on details. The book is out of copyright and can be legally downloaded from the Internet.
  5. [5]Flora of China — Missouri Botanical Garden Press; St. Louis. · 1994 · http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/ ↩︎An excellent, comprehensive resource in 25 volumes. In addition to the botanical information the flora also gives basic information on habitat and some uses. An on-line version is also available.
  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]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.
  8. [8]Glossary of Indian Medicinal Plants (Including the Supplement). — Chopra. R. N., Nayar. S. L. and Chopra. I. C. · Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi. · 1986 · ISBN - ↩︎Very terse details of medicinal uses of plants with a wide range of references and details of research into the plants chemistry. Not for the casual reader.
  9. [9]The Useful Plants of the Island of Guam — Safford W.E. · Smithsonian Institute; Washington. · 1905 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/ ↩︎A very comprehensive, if rather dated, guide to the plants of Guam. It can be downloaded from the Internet.