Genus of trees
Canarium is a
genus of about 120
species of
tropical and
subtropical
trees , in the family
Burseraceae . They grow naturally across tropical
Africa , south and southeast
Asia ,
Indochina ,
Malesia ,
Australia and western
Pacific Islands ; including from southern
Nigeria east to
Madagascar ,
Mauritius ,
Sri Lanka and
India ; from
Burma ,
Malaysia and
Thailand through the
Malay Peninsula and
Vietnam to south
China ,
Taiwan and the
Philippines ; through
Borneo ,
Indonesia ,
Timor and
New Guinea , through to the
Solomon Islands ,
Vanuatu ,
New Caledonia ,
Fiji ,
Samoa ,
Tonga and
Palau .
[3]
Canarium species grow up to large
evergreen trees of 40–50 m (130–160 ft) tall, and have alternately arranged,
pinnate leaves.
[3] They are
dioecious , with male and female flowers growing on separate trees.
[4]
Common names
The trees and their edible nuts have a large number of common names in their range. These include Pacific almond, canarium nut,
pili nut , Java almond, Kenari nut, galip nut, nangai, and ngali.
[5]
Species
As of January 2024,
Plants of the World Online accepts 121 species.
[2] The brief species distribution information was sourced from
Flora Malesiana ,
[3] the
Flora of China (series) , the
Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants information system , and Plants of the World Online.
Canarium resiniferum seeds dispersed by hornbills in
Pakke Tiger Reserve
Canarium acutifolium (DC.) Merr. – New Guinea, Maluku, Sulawesi, New Britain, New Ireland, Bougainville, Qld Australia
Canarium album (Lour.) DC. Chinese white olive (橄欖) – Taiwan, S China, Vietnam
Canarium ampasindavae Daly, Raharim. & Federman – Madagascar
Canarium apertum H.J.Lam – Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Borneo
Canarium arcuatum Daly, Raharim. & Federman – Madagascar
Canarium asperum Benth. – New Guinea, Maluku, Sulawesi, Philippines, Borneo, Java, Sumbawa, Sumba, Flores, Timor, Solomon Is.,
Canarium australasicum (F.M.Bailey) Leenh. – Qld, NSW, Australia endemic
Canarium australianum F.Muell. – New Guinea, Qld, NT, WA, Australia
Canarium balansae Engl. – New Caledonia endemic
Canarium balsamiferum Willd. – Maluku, Sulawesi
Canarium batjanense Leenh. – Maluku
Canarium bengalense Roxb. – India, Burma, Laos, Thailand, S China
Canarium betamponae Daly, Raharim. & Federman – Madagascar
Canarium boivinii Engl. – northeastern Madagascar
Canarium bullatum (Leenh.) Daly, Raharim. & Federman – northern and northeastern Madagascar
Canarium caudatum King – Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Borneo
Canarium cestracion Leenh. – E New Guinea
Canarium chinare Grutt. & H.J.Lam – Solomon Is., Admiralty Is.
Canarium cinereum Guillaumin – Vietnam
Canarium compressum Daly, Raharim. & Federman – Madagascar
Canarium copaliferum A.Chev. – Vietnam
Canarium decumanum Gaertn. – E Borneo, Maluku, New Guinea, Sulawesi
Canarium denticulatum Blume – Andaman Is., Burma, Sumatra, Malay Penin., Java, Borneo, Philippines
Canarium dichotomum (Blume) Miq. – Sumatra, Borneo
Canarium divergens Engl. – Borneo
Canarium egregium Daly, Raharim. & Federman – Madagascar
Canarium elegans Daly, Raharim. & Federman — Madagascar
Canarium engleri H.J.Lam – Vietnam
Canarium euphyllum Kurz – Andaman Is.
Canarium euryphyllum G.Perkins – Philippines
Canarium ferrugineum Daly, Raharim. & Federman – Madagascar
Canarium findens Daly, Raharim. & Federman – Madagascar
Canarium fugax Daly, Raharim. & Federman – Madagascar
Canarium fuscocalycinum Stapf ex Ridl. – Borneo
Canarium galokense Daly, Raharim. & Federman – Madagascar
Canarium globosum Daly, Raharim. & Federman – Madagascar
Canarium gracile Engl. – Philippines
Canarium grandifolium (Ridl.) H.J.Lam – Malay Peninsula
Canarium harveyi Seem. – Fiji, Niue, Santa Cruz Islands, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna
Canarium hirsutum Willd. – New Guinea to throughout Malesia, Solomon Is., Palau
Canarium indicum L. – New Guinea, New Britain, New Ireland, Solomon Is., Vanuatu, Maluku, Sulawesi
Canarium indistinctum Daly, Raharim. & Federman – Madagascar
Canarium intermedium H.J.Lam – S Sumatra
Canarium kaniense Lauterb. – New Guinea
Canarium karoense H.J.Lam – N Sumatra
Canarium kerrii Craib – Thailand
Canarium kinabaluense Leenh. – N Borneo
Canarium kipella (Blume) Miq. – W Java
Canarium kostermansii Leenh. – Borneo
Canarium lamianum Daly, Raharim. & Federman – Madagascar
Canarium lamii Leenh. – New Guinea
Canarium latistipulatum Ridl. – Borneo
Canarium liguliferum Leenh. – Solomon Islands (Rob Roy Island)
Canarium littorale Blume – Indo-China, Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Java, Borneo
Canarium lobocarpum Daly, Raharim. & Federman – Madagascar
Canarium longistipulatum Daly, Raharim. & Federman – Madagascar
Canarium luzonicum (Blume) A.Gray – Philippines
Canarium lyi C.D.Dai & Yakovlev – Vietnam
Canarium macadamii Leenh. – New Guinea
Canarium madagascariense Engl. – Madagascar (Nosy Bé)
Canarium maluense Lauterb. – Sulawesi, Maluku, New Guinea, Borneo
Canarium manii King – Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Myanmar
Canarium manongarivum Daly, Raharim. & Federman – Madagascar
Canarium megacarpum Leenh. – New Guinea
Canarium megalanthum Merr. – Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Borneo
Canarium merrillii H.J.Lam – Borneo
Canarium muelleri F.M.Bailey – Queensland endemic, Australia
Canarium multiflorum Engl. – Madagascar
Canarium multinerve Daly, Raharim. & Federman – Madagascar
Canarium nitidifolium Daly, Raharim. & Federman – Madagascar
Canarium obovatum Daly, Raharim. & Federman – Madagascar
Canarium obtusifolium Scott Elliot – eastern Madagascar
Canarium odontophyllum Miq. – Sumatra, Borneo, Philippines (Palawan)
Canarium oleiferum Baill. – New Caledonia endemic
Canarium oleosum (Lam.) Engl. – New Guinea, New Britain, Timor, Maluku, Sulawesi
Canarium ovatum Engl. – Philippines, cultivated Asia–Pacific
Canarium pallidum Daly, Raharim. & Federman – Madagascar
Canarium paniculatum (Lam.) Benth. ex Engl. – Mauritius
Canarium parvum Leenh. – S China, Vietnam
Canarium patentinervium Miq. – Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Banka, Borneo
Canarium perlisanum Leenh. – Malay Peninsula (Perlis)
Canarium pilicarpum Daly, Raharim. & Federman – northern and east-northeastern Madagascar
Canarium pilososylvestre Leenh. – W New Guinea
Canarium pilosum A.W.Benn. – Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Borneo
Canarium pimela K.D.Koenig Chinese black olive (乌榄) – Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, S China
Canarium planifolium Daly, Raharim. & Federman – Madagascar
Canarium polyphyllum K.Schum. – New Guinea
Canarium pseudodecumanum Hochr. – Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Borneo
Canarium pseudopatentinervium H.J.Lam – S Sumatra, Banka, Borneo
Canarium pseudopimela Kochummen – Borneo (Sarawak)
Canarium pseudosumatranum Leenh. – Malay Peninsula
Canarium pulchrebracteatum Guillaumin – eastern Madagascar
Canarium reniforme Kochummen & Whitmore – Peninsular Malaysia
Canarium resiniferum Bruce ex King – Assam and Bangladesh
Canarium rigidum (Blume) Zipp. ex Miq. – New Guinea
Canarium rotundifolium Guillaumin – Cambodia and Vietnam
Canarium salomonense B.L.Burtt – New Guinea and Solomon Islands
Canarium sarawakanum Kochummen – Borneo (Sarawak)
Canarium schweinfurthii Engl. – African canarium; from Nigeria and Angola to Uganda
Canarium sikkimense King – Sikkim
Canarium strictum Roxb. – India, Burma, S China
Canarium subsidarium Daly, Raharim. & Federman – Madagascar
Canarium subtile Daly, Raharim. & Federman – Madagascar
Canarium subulatum Guillaumin – Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, S China
Canarium sumatranum Boerl. & Koord. – Sumatra, Malay Peninsula
Canarium sylvestre Gaertn. – New Guinea, Maluku
Canarium thorelianum Guillaumin – Cambodia and Vietnam
Canarium trifoliolatum Engl. – New Caledonia endemic
Canarium trigonum H.J.Lam – Sulawesi
Canarium vanikoroense Leenh. – Fiji, Santa Cruz Islands, Vanuatu, and Wallis and Futuna
Canarium velutinifolium Daly, Raharim. & Federman – Madagascar
Canarium venosum Craib – Thailand
Canarium vitiense A.Gray – Fiji, Solomon Is., Samoa, Tonga, New Guinea, Bismarck Arch., Admiralty Is., Louisiade Arch., Torres Strait I's, Qld Australia
Canarium vittatistipulatum Guillaumin – Vietnam
Canarium vrieseanum Engl. – Philippines, Sulawesi
Canarium vulgare Leenh. – Flores, Timor, Sulawesi, Maluku
Canarium whitei Guillaumin – New Caledonia endemic
Canarium zeylanicum (Retz.) Blume – Sri Lanka
Uses and ecology
Several species have edible
nuts , known as galip nut or nangae (
C. indicum ), pili nut (
C. ovatum ), or simply canarium nut (
C. harveyi and C. indicum ). C. indicum are among the most important nut-bearing trees in eastern
Indonesia and the Southwest Pacific. C. ovatum is cultivated as a food crop only in the
Philippines .
[6]
Dammar resin
C. odontophyllum , known commonly as dabai or kembayau, is a species with a nutritious fruit with a creamy taste. It is hard when raw and may be pickled or softened with hot water when prepared. Many animals feed on the fruit in the wild, such as the
red-bellied lemur (Eulemur rubriventer ) and the
ruffed lemurs (Varecia ) of
Madagascar 's eastern
tropical forests . Canarium fruit is also an important part of the diet of the
aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascarensis ).
[7]
Canarium album produces a fruit consumed in Vietnam, Thailand (where it is known as nam liap (
Thai : หนำเลี้ยบ ), samo chin (
Thai : สมอจีน ) or kana (
Thai : กาน้า )) and in China (
Chinese : 橄欖 ) with an appearance of a big olive.
Canarium luzonicum , commonly known as elemi , is a tree native to the Philippines. An
oleoresin , which contains
Elemicin , is harvested from it.
Canarium strictum produces a resin called black
dammar .
Superb fruit-doves (Ptilinopus superbus ) are known to be fond of the fruit of
scrub turpentine (C. australianum ), which they swallow whole.
[8]
[9]
References
^
"International Plant Names Index" .
International Plant Names Index (IPNI) .
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew ;
Harvard University Herbaria &
Libraries ;
Australian National Botanic Gardens . Retrieved 13 Nov 2013 .
^
a
b
Canarium L.
Plants of the World Online . Retrieved 19 January 2024.
^
a
b
c
Leenhouts, P. W.; Kalkman, C.; Lam, H. J. (March 1956).
"Canarium (Burseraceae)" (Digitised, online) .
Flora Malesiana . Series I, Spermatophyta : Flowering Plants. Vol. 5. Leiden, The Netherlands: Rijksherbarium / Hortus Botanicus, Leiden University. pp. 249–296. Retrieved 13 Nov 2013 .
^ Federman, Sarah; Donoghue, Michael J.; Daly, Douglas C.; Eaton, Deren A. R. (2018).
"Reconciling species diversity in a tropical plant clade (Canarium , Burseraceae)" . PLOS ONE . 13 (6): e0198882.
Bibcode :
2018PLoSO..1398882F .
doi :
10.1371/journal.pone.0198882 .
PMC
6003679 .
PMID
29906281 .
^ "Canarian indicum"
http://agroforestry.net/tti/Canarium-canariumnut.pdf , accessed 12 Dec 2013; Sheppard, Peter J. "Lapita Colonization across the Near/Remote Oceania Boundary" Current Anthropology Vol. 52, No. 6 (Dec 2011), p. 802
^
Pili Nut, Canarium ovatum , New Crop Fact Sheet. Purdue University Center for New Crops and Plant Products.
^ Timothy M. Sefczek; Zach J. Farris; Patricia C. Wright (2012). "Aye-Aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis ) Feeding Strategies at Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar: An Indirect Sampling Method". Folia Primatologica; International Journal of Primatology . - 83 (1): 1–10.
doi :
10.1159/000338103 .
PMID
22627178 .
S2CID
207622496 .
^
Crome, F. H. J. (1975). "The ecology of fruit pigeons in tropical northern Queensland". Wildlife Research . 2 (2): 155–185.
doi :
10.1071/wr9750155 .
^
Frith, H. J.; Crome, F. H. J.; Wolfe, T. O. (1976).
"Food of fruit-pigeons in New Guinea" . Emu . 76 (2): 49–58.
doi :
10.1071/mu9760049 . Retrieved 16 Nov 2013 .
External links