Agathis dammara

Rich. (1826)

Common names

Almaciga, baltic, saleng (Philippines); Damar Malolo, Damar Nunu (Celebes); Kalline, Kessi, Oeneela (Moluccas); mountain agathis, Amboyna (or Amboina) pine; damar minyak, sanum, tesanum (Pah.); Celebes kauri.

Taxonomic notes

This species was introduced to science when Rumphius (1741, shown at right) illustrated a specimen from Ambon in the Philippines. It was later named Pinus dammara in Lambert's 1803 classic A description of the genus Pinus, and then reassigned to Agathis by Richard (1826). The species has a long and complex nomenclatural history, for which we can in part blame Lambert: he based his description upon a variety of materials, notably including Rumphius' illustration and a seed cone that he received from Christopher Smith via Joseph Banks. Unfortunately these were from what we now regard as two different species, the illustration from Agathis dammara and the cone from A. borneensis. (This is a perfect example of why designating a type specimen is so important; but the concept was not in general use in Lambert's time.) Only in 1980 was Rumphius' illustration designated as a lectotype, and due to controversy regarding the Christopher Smith cone, not until 1987 was this designation confirmed (Veldkamp and de Laubenfels 1984, Brummitt 1987). Therefore names designated before 1987 using Pinus dammara as basionym are now pro parte synonyms of both A. borneensis and A. dammara.

Another name you may see is Agathis alba Oken, which was designated in 1825 but based upon Rumphius' specimen, thus there is no confusion with the A. borneensis cone. However species epithets published before Linnaeus's Species Plantarum in 1753 are not valid, so the epithet dammara given by Lambert establishes the correct basionym for this species. Note that it took until the 21st century for all this to get sorted out.

In the past, this species has most widely been called Agathis dammara Rich., A. philippinensis Warb., or A. celebica Warb. The name A. dammara has been applied to nearly every Malesian kauri from west of New Guinea; various authors have used it to describe the species here named A. dammara and A. borneensis, which have disjunct distributions. A. dammara as described here is the east Malesian kauri, endemic to the Philippines, Celebes and Molucca. The western Malesian species, endemic to Java, Malaya, Sumatra and Borneo, is A. borneensis. Since this species is the sole naturally-occurring Agathis within its range, you can normally determine which species an older author is discussing by considering the geographic focus of their work.

The name A. philippinensis has been applied to the trees of the Philippines, while A. celebica has similarly been applied to the trees of Celebes and the Moluccas. De Laubenfels (1988), Veldkamp and de Laubenfels (1984) accepts these two taxa as distinct, while Farjon (2010) does not. Both support their views with morphological evidence. I credit Farjon's analysis since de Laubenfels relies upon foliage characters, which are phenotypically plastic in Agathis. The debate will probably end some day with a molecular study, but it has not yet been done.

Description

Trees to 60 m tall and 1.8 m dbh. Mature trees follow the usual Agathis model of a long clear bole with a broad emergent crown of large rigid first-order branches. The authorities differ in opinion about the bark, calling it gray, red-gray, light brown, or black, finely dimpled to thinly scaly or with many resin blisters, or rough, exfoliating thus with few epiphytes. Leaves sub-opposite, thick, coriaceous, light to dark green, highly variable even on a single tree. On young trees lanceolate, acuminate, 3 × 7 to 3.5 × 13 cm. On adult trees long-oval with a rounded apex, 4–8 × 1.5–3 cm, with a 1–8 mm petiole. Pollen cones axillary, solitary on a stout 3–4 peduncle, at anthesis small cylinders with straight sides, surface firm, smooth; 6–8 mm diameter × 12–20 mm long; ultimately becoming dark brown, slightly flexuous cylinders, 10 × 30–40 mm, with the surface loose; basal bracts form a loose, often squarish cupule, less than, equal to, or exceeding cone width, rarely with 2 bracts enlarged, leafy, 10 × 30 mm. Microsporophylls at anthesis are imbricate, to 2 mm across, without a distinctly demarcated thin margin; edge erose; head in adaxial view round, 1.5–2 mm across, becoming 2.5 × 1.5 mm in the largest cones; thick in the center, tapering gradually to thin edges. Female cone globular or ovoid, 5.5–12 cm long by 5–7.8 cm wide; cone scales nearly triangular, upper corners of scales are broadly rounded and thin. Seed subovoid, to 1.5 cm long, one wing to 1.3 cm long, another much shorter (Whitmore 1980, Silba 1986). See García Esteban et al. (2004) for a detailed characterization of the wood anatomy.

The most similar species is A. borneensis. Confidently distinguishing the two species requires 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. dammara 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. dammara and have a thin, lighter-colored upper margin (Farjon 2010).

Distribution and Ecology

Indonesia: Celebes, Moluccas; Philippines; within this range it is the sole native species of Agathis. Grows at elevations of 0-1200(-2200) m, occurring on podsolized sands and limestones, from which I infer that it can accept a wide range of silicate and carbonate substrates, though perhaps not ultramafics. Mature trees are typically scattered emergents in lowland to lower montane rainforest, accompanied by various trees of Dipterocarpaceae or Fagaceae. It also occurs on waterlogged sites or rocky ridges where angiosperm competition is reduced (Seeber et al. 1979, Whitmore 1980, Silba 1986, Farjon 2010).

The IUCN has assigned this species a conservation status of "Vulnerable" due to long-standing and continuing timber harvest and deforestation. This assessment dates to 2012; status has likely further declined since then.

Remarkable Specimens

No data as of 2026-04-28.

Ethnobotany

No data as of 2026-04-28.

Observations

No data as of 2026-04-28.

Remarks

The epithet dammara refers to dammar, another name for copal, formerly an economically important resin extracted from this species (as well as from several other Agathis species).

Citations

Brummitt, R. K. 1987. Report of the Committee for Spermatophyta: 33. Taxon 36(4):736.

Richard, A. 1826. Comm. Bot. Conif. Cycad., p. 83.

Rumphius, G. E. 1741. Herbarium Amboinense, V. 2, Tab. LVII. Amsterdam: Joannes Burmannus. Available: Real Jardin Botanico, accessed 2024.12.04.

Seeber, Gotthard, Hans-Joachim Weidelt and Valeriano S. Banaag. 1979. Dendrological characters of important forest trees from eastern Mindanao. Eschborn. Pages 75–77.

Veldkamp, J. F., and D. J. de Laubenfels. 1984. Proposal to Reject Pinus dammara (Araucariaceae). Taxon 33:337.

See also

The PROTA database account for this species (accessed 2019.02.28). PROTA accounts are focused on commercial forest uses in Africa, and typically include photographs, drawings, names, distribution, and a variety of information relevant to management of the species.

The species account at Threatened Conifers of the World.

Bakhuizen, Taxon 4 (1955) 196.

Foxworthy, F. W. 1909. Philipp. Journ. Sci. v. 4:C, p. 442. Available: Biodiversity Heritage Library, accessed 2026.01.15.

Kitamura, K. and M.Y.B.A. Rahman. 1992. Genetic diversity among natural populations of Agathis borneensis (Araucariaceae), a tropical rain forest conifer from Brunei Darussalam, Borneo, Southeast Asia. Canadian Jounal of Botany 70:1945–1949.

de Laubenfels (1988).

Meijer-Drees (1940).

Whitmore (1977).