Range of Agathis borneensis, based on a map generated by GBIF, 2024.12.04.
Agathis borneensis
Borneo kauri, Malayan kauri (English); bindang (Sarawak); kayu buloh, bulok, bulu (Iban); tolong (Brunei); mengilan, tambunan (Sabah); dammar, dammar daging, dammar minyak, tulong (Malaya); hedje (Tapanuli); salang (Kendayah); manggilam (Dusun); bangalan, bengalan (Sampit, Pilau); toga (W Kutai); bembuëng (SE Borneo); nuju (Dajak); enghatan (Sanggan); pisau, putut (Sintang); bamboeng, bengalen, bindang, mengilan, pilan, tulong (Borneo) (Smythies 1965, Whitmore 1980, Silba 1986, de Laubenfels 1988).
Type: A specimen collected by Beccari on Sarawak [locality not stated]. My references on this point conflict: Whitmore (1980) cites Beccari 491, isotypes at BO and K; Farjon (2010) cites Beccari 596, syntype K.
Synonyms: A. beccarii Warb. (1900); A rhomboidalis Warb. (1900); A. latifolia Meijer Drees (1940); A. endertii Meijer Drees (1940).
Although it was recognized by de Laubenfels (1988), A. endertii, the most common synonym, was reduced to synonymy by both Whitmore (1980) and Farjon (2010) on grounds of overlapping characters and distribution. The relationship has not been evaluated using molecular methods.
Whitmore (1980) explains that Warburg described A. borneensis and A. beccarii at the same time, but for A. borneensis he provided a male specimen and a good drawing of the microsporophyll, while for A. beccarii he provided only a sterile specimen, with a female isotype for Kew. Thus the A. beccarii specimen does not display characters that allow it to be classified to species, and A. borneenesis becomes the type, with A. beccarii reduced to synonymy. This is unfortunate because it means that one of the most widespread species of Agathis in Malaya and Sumatra now bears the epithet "borneensis."
Trees to 50(-55) m tall and 3.5 m dbh. Mature trees follow the usual Agathis model of a long (20-30 m) clear bole with a broad emergent crown of large rigid first-order branches. Bark variable: grey, light brown, to black, finely dimpled to thinly scaly or rough, exfoliating thus with few epiphytes. Leaves sub-opposite, thick, coriaceous, light green, highly variable even on a single tree, more or less elliptic, acute on young trees, 2.5-14 cm long, generally larger on younger than on mature trees, about 3-10 times as long as wide. Pollen cones axillary, solitary on a stout, 1-2(-5) mm (Malaya and Borneo) or (4-)10 mm (Sumatra) peduncle; ovoid-cylindrical at anthesis, 30-40 × 14-18 mm; ultimately becoming dark brown flexible cylinders, 20 × 50 - 40 × 90 mm. Basal bracts forming a loose flattened cupule adpressed to cone and usually smaller but rarely enclosing it, occasionally cone extending downwards so obscuring the cupule. Microsporophylls large; as seen in intact cone at anthesis strongly imbricate, 4-5 mm across, with a clearly demarcated, erose, usually pale, chartaceous margin; head in adaxial view 5-6 mm across × 4-5 mm radially, often extending axially as 2 truncated wings tipped by anthers; anthers 4-10. Seed cones solitary on thick peduncles, ellipsoid to globose, 10-13 cm across at maturity, resinous, green ripening to brown (Whitmore 1980, Farjon 2010).
The most similar species is A. alba; indeed the two were synonymized by de Laubenfels (1988), with which no one else has agreed. In portions of their range where the two species coincide, accurate identification requires the pollen cones, which of course are not present on (or beneath) all trees. When they are immature, the pollen cones of A. borneensis are rather globose and become cylindrical by elongation, while those of A. alba are cylindrical but still small and retain their proportions as they grow. At maturity, the microsporophylls of A. borneensis are much larger than those of A. alba and have a thin, lighter-colored upper margin (Farjon 2010).
Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia, primarily on Borneo, Sumatra, and the southern Malay Peninsula. It occurs from low elevations to c. 1440 m in upland tropical rainforest, often associated with sandstone kerangas, "and in dense, nearly pure stands on low-lying sandy peat soil." This ecological setting is very similar to that of Dacrydium pectinatum (de Laubenfels 1988); it also occurs with Falcatifolium falciforme, Nageia wallichiana, Sundacarpus amarus, and species of Podocarpus (Farjon 2010).
No data as of 2023.02.22.
No data as of 2023.02.22.
No data as of 2023.02.22.
The epithet means "of Borneo".
Meijer-Drees. 1940. The genus Agathis in Malaysia. Bull. Bot. Gds. Buitenzorg, Series III, XVI, 455-474.
The species account at Threatened Conifers of the World.
Last Modified 2024-12-04
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