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Nomenclature etc. CHRYSOBALANACEAE. Incl. Atuna excelsa Raf. (syn. P. glaberrima (Hassk.) Hassk.), P. anamense Hance, P. campestris Aublet, P. corymbosa (Bl.) Miq., P. curatellifolia Planch. ex Benth., P. kerstingii Engl., P. salomonensis C.T. White. Trade and local names: Africa: sougue, mampataz, mubura, ofam, assila, eshagho, mubara, aramon; South and Central America: parinari, tostado, fengoe hedoe, burada, vonkhout, caraipé-rana, farinha seca, uchpa-umarí; Southeast Asia: merbatu, parinari, sea beam (GB); baritu (BRU); kolaka (RI); bangkawang, nyalin, obah ngilas (MAL); bari-tadiang (RP); tauk-kade (BUR); maphok (T). Not protected under CITES regulations.
Description based on 16 specimens. Tree. Geographic distribution: Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indomalesia, tropical Africa, Mexico and Central America, tropical South America.
General. Heartwood basically brown, yellow, and white or grey; with streaks. Sapwood colour similar to heartwood colour, or distinct from heartwood colour. Density 0.68–0.8 g/cm³.
Vessels. Wood diffuse porous. Vessels exclusively solitary. Average tangential vessel diameter 135–300–450 µm. Average number of vessels/mm² (1–)2–4. Perforation plates simple. Intervessel pits absent. Vessel-ray pits with reduced borders or apparently simple, horizontal to vertical. Tyloses absent.
Tracheids and fibres. Vascular or vasicentric tracheids commonly present. Fibres of medium wall thickness and very thick-walled. Fibre pits common in both radial and tangential walls, distinctly bordered.
Axial parenchyma. Axial parenchyma banded. Bands marginal (or seemingly marginal) or not marginal (or seemingly marginal). Axial parenchyma bands forming a reticulate pattern with rays and much wider than rays. Bands fine and coarse. Parenchyma bands sometimes discontinuous. Axial parenchyma apotracheal, or paratracheal. Apotracheal axial parenchyma diffuse and diffuse-in-aggregates. Paratracheal axial parenchyma scanty. Axial parenchyma as strands. Average number of cells per strand: 8–15.
Rays. Rays (11–)13–14(–17) per tangential mm, exclusively uniseriate and multiseriate (predominantly uniseriate), 1–2 cells wide. Height of large rays commonly 500 to 1000 µm. Rays composed of a single cell type (homocellular) and two or more cell types (heterocellular); homocellular ray cells procumbent. Heterocellular rays with square and upright cells restricted to marginal rows, mostly 1 marginal row of upright or square cells.
Storied structures. Storied structure absent.
Mineral inclusions. Crystals not observed. Silica present, as grains; in rays cells.
Physical and chemical tests. Heartwood not fluorescent. Water extract not fluorescent; colour of water extract colourless to brown. Ethanol extract not fluorescent. Colour of ethanol extract colourless to brown. Splinter burns to partial ash. Ash bright white.
Illustrations. • Transverse section: P. excelsa. Parinari excelsa. • Transverse section: P. kerstingii. Parinari kerstingii. • Tangential section: P. kerstingii. Parinari kerstingii. • Radial section: Parinari sp.. Parinari sp. silica grains (light colored spots) in rays.
The interactive key allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting specified attributes, summaries of attributes within groups of taxa, and geographical distribution.
Cite this publication as: ‘Richter, H.G., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2000 onwards. Commercial timbers: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. In English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. Version: 9th April 2019. delta-intkey.com’.
