Cinnamomum kerangas Kosterm.

10. Cinnamomum kerangas Kosterm. View in CoL — Map 4 View Map 4

Cinnamomum kerangas Kosterm. (1970b) View in CoL 47; F.G. Browne (1955) 215; J. A. R. Anderson (1980) 223. — Type: Caroll S 2288 (holo SING; iso BM, KEP, SAN, SAR ), Sarawak, Kuching district , Setapok Forest Reserve .

Small tree or shrub 6 –11 m tall, 6 –15 cm diam. Bark smooth, greyish brown, scented; inner bark fairly hard, brown; sapwood yellowish. Twigs distinctly quadrangular, 3 –5 mm diam, minute-appressed hairy, yellowish brown to dark brown. Terminal buds not perulate, greyish, c. 6 mm long, densely covered with straight appressed hairs. Leaves opposite or subopposite, scented, trinerved, coriaceous, below sparsely and minutely covered with straight appressed hairy; blade without domatia, ovate-oblong to lanceolate, 25– 45 by 7.5–12 cm, base cuneate, apex often gnawed; midrib and lateral veins prominently raised on both sides; lateral veins extending to the leaf tip; major intercostal veins faint, slender, scalariform to subscalariform, 2 –4 mm apart, less prominent than midrib; minor intercostal veins indistinct; petiole stout, distinctly quadrangular, minute-appressed hairy, brown to dark brown, 1–2.5 cm long, 3 – 4 mm diam. Inflorescences subterminal, lax, paniculate-cymose with second and third order branching, 22– 27 cm long, many-flowered; rachis c. 1 mm broad, appressed hairy. Flowers drying greyish appressed hairy; pedicels slender, 2 –7 mm long; hypanthium c. 1 mm high; perianth lobes elliptic to oblong or obovate, densely hairy, c. 4 mm long; fertile stamens 2.5–3 mm long, anthers 4-locular, filaments slender, c. 2/3 the length of the stamen; glands attached at the middle of filaments; staminodes c. 2 mm long, sagittate; ovary subglobose, c. 2 mm across, stigma subpeltate. Fruits ellipsoid, c. 1 by 0.5 cm; cupule indistinct, consisting of persistent perianth lobes; perianth lobes appressed hairy, elliptic, c. 2 by 1 mm, upon drying recurved.

Distribution — Endemic to Borneo: Sarawak (Kuching district) and West Kalimantan.

Habitat & Ecology — Peat swamp and kerangas forest on podsol soils, at altitudes to 30 m.

Vernacular name — Medang tija, Tija kerangas (both Malay).

Note — In Sarawak, this species is known only from Setapok Forest Reserve, Kuching district. Browne (1955) recognised the species under the vernacular name ‘Tija kerangas ( Cinnamomum sp. )’ and noted in general that the species is fairly common in certain part of Sarawak. More field collection and observation are needed to confirm this. In Kalimantan, this species is represented by only one collection from Pangkalan Batu, Singkawang.