Fruit of a ''Shorea'' species ''Shorea'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of about 196

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...

of mainly

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

trees in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Dipterocarpaceae Dipterocarpaceae is a family of 16 genera and about 695 known species of mainly tropical lowland rainforest trees. The family name, from the type genus ''Dipterocarpus'', is derived from Greek (''di'' = two, ''pteron'' = wing and ''karpos'' = fru ...

. The genus is named after Sir John Shore, the governor-general of the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

, 1793–1798. The

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, w ...

of trees of the genus is sold under the common names lauan, luan, lawaan, meranti, seraya, balau, bangkirai, and Philippine mahogany.

Taxonomy

''Shorea'' fossils (linked with the modern

sal Sal, SAL, or S.A.L. may refer to: Personal name * Sal (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname Places * Sal, Cape Verde, an island and municipality * Sal, Iran, a village in East Azerbaijan Province * Ca ...

, ''S. robusta'', which is still a dominant tree species in Indian forests) are known from as early as the

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', ...

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. They are identifiable by the

amber Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In M ...

fossils formed by their dammar resin. Other fossils include a

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

-aged fossilized fruit from the same region; this fruit most closely resembles the extant '' S. macroptera'' of the

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula ( Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The ar ...

Description

''Shorea'' spp. are native to

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

, from northern

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

, and the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. In west Malesia and the Philippines, this genus dominates the skyline of the

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

s. The tallest documented tropical

angiosperm Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants ...

is an 88.3-m-tall ''

Shorea faguetiana ''Shorea faguetiana'' is a species of plant in the family Dipterocarpaceae. Along with other species in the genus ''Shorea'', it is also called '' Yellow Meranti.'' It is native to Borneo, the Malay Peninsula, and Thailand. It is the tallest ...

'' in the Tawau Hills National Park, in

Sabah Sabah () is a state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indonesia to the south. The Federal Territory ...

on the island of

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and e ...

, and in that park at least five other species of the genus have been measured to be over 80 m tall: '' S. argentifolia'', '' S. gibbosa'', '' S. johorensis'', '' S. smithiana'', and '' S. superba''. Borneo is also the hotspot of ''Shorea'' diversity with 138 species, of which 91 are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to the island.Ashton, P. S. "Dipterocarpaceae". In ''Tree Flora of Sabah and Sarawak,'' Volume 5, 2004. Soepadmo, E.; Saw, L. G. and Chung, R. C. K. eds. Government of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Species

Reproductive biology

The majority of ''Shorea'' spp. are general flowering species, which is an event that occurs at irregular intervals of 3–10 yr, in which nearly all dipterocarp species together with species of other families bloom heavily. General flowering is thought to have evolved to satiate seed predators and/or to facilitate pollination. Both explanations apparently hold merit. Flowering is thought to be triggered by droughts that occur during transition periods from La Niña to El Niño. The magnitude of a flowering event is suggested to be dependent on the timing of the droughts associated with the El Niño southern oscillation (ENSO) cycle, with the largest events occurring after an interval of several years with no flowering. ''Shorea'' spp. are insect pollinated. A variety of insects have been identified as pollinators, with species within the sections of ''Shorea'' sharing the same insect pollinators. Flowering within a section is sequential within one habitat and species association to prevent competition for pollinators. Seed predation and mortality have an impact on the reproduction process of dipterocarps such as ''Shorea''. In Singapore,

crab-eating macaque The crab-eating macaque (''Macaca fascicularis''), also known as the long-tailed macaque and referred to as the cynomolgus monkey in laboratories, is a cercopithecine primate native to Southeast Asia. A species of macaque, the crab-eating macaqu ...

and

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

larvae are known seed predators.

Uses

Many economically important

trees belong to ''Shorea''. They are sold under various trade names including "lauan", "lawaan", "meranti", "seraya", "balau", "bangkirai", and "Philippine mahogany". (For a list of species associated with each name, see the article on Dipterocarp timber classification.) The "Philippine mahogany" sold in North America is not a true

mahogany Mahogany is a straight- grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus '' Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: U ...

at all, but a mixture of woods from the genus ''Shorea''. Other products from ''Shorea'' spp. include dammar and

illipe Illipe butter is a vegetable fat from the nut (known as the "false illipe nut") of the '' Shorea stenoptera'' tree, sometimes used as a butter substitute. Borneo tallow nut oil is extracted from this species. The word Illipe is derived from the T ...

. Dammar is a resin collected from a variety of species. It varies in colour among the different taxonomic groups. '' Shorea wiesneri'' is listed in many websites as an important source of dammar; however, this appears to be either a trade name or a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are al ...

Borneo tallow nut oil Borneo tallow nut oil or sal nut oil is extracted from the fruit of species of genus ''Shorea'', which is native to Borneo, Java, Malaya and the Philippines. The oil is extracted from the egg-shaped, winged fruit using traditional methods in rural a ...

is extracted from the egg-shaped, winged fruit of ''Shorea'' species.

Conservation status

Of the 148 species of ''Shorea'' currently listed on the IUCN Redlist, most are listed as being critically endangered. Some concerns exist regarding the IUCN's listing of dipterocarps, as the criteria used to assess the level of threat are based mainly on animal population characteristics. This is thought to overstate the

threat assessment Threat assessment is the practice of determining the credibility and seriousness of a potential threat, as well as the probability that the threat will become a reality. Threat assessment is separate to the more established practice of violence-r ...

, when applied to long-lived, habitat-specific organisms such as trees. The ''Shorea'' species page gives threat classifications.

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q132419 Malvales genera Wood