Calophyllum
Encyclopedia
Calophyllum is a flowering plant
genus
of around 180-200 species
of tropical
evergreen
tree
s in the family
Calophyllaceae
. The generic name is derived from the Greek
words καλος (kalos), meaning "beautiful", and φυλλον (phullon), meaning "leaf." Its members are native to Australasia
, Madagascar
, Eastern Africa, South
and Southeast Asia
, the Pacific Islands
, the Caribbean
and Latin America
. The common names, as well as commercial names, for these trees are:
s, from ridges in mountain forests to coastal swamp
s, lowland forest and even coral
cay
s. They are large hardwood
s, attaining 30 m in height and 0.8 m in diameter. It presents shiny and leathery leaves. The tree bark is grey or white and decorticates in large thin strips. The wood
is light in weight, the heartwood pink-red, or almost brown, while the sapwood varies from species to species, often from yellow, brown (often with pink tints) to orange. Species occurring in Papua New Guinea
are often buttress
ed.
The lightweight hardwood of these species is used in boatmaking for masts
and spar
s, as well as in luxury furniture and flooring.
For medicinal (folk medicine
and ethnopharmacology
) uses of leaves, oil from nuts and crost balsam, for HIV
and AIDS
, see calanolide A
and calanolide B, Jacareubin, Tamanu oil, and Calophyllic acid. For medicinal use from their resin, see tacamahac
.
nation of Nauru
, appearing on the national coat of arms.
Flowering plant
The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...
genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of around 180-200 species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of tropical
Tropics
The tropics is a region of the Earth surrounding the Equator. It is limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at S; these latitudes correspond to the axial tilt of the Earth...
evergreen
Evergreen
In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...
tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
s in the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Calophyllaceae
Calophyllaceae
Calophyllaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Malpighiales and is recognized by the APG III system of classification. Most of the genera included in this family were previously recognized in the tribe Calophylleae of the Clusiaceae family. The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group...
. The generic name is derived from the Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
words καλος (kalos), meaning "beautiful", and φυλλον (phullon), meaning "leaf." Its members are native to Australasia
Australasia
Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...
, Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
, Eastern Africa, South
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
and Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
, the Pacific Islands
Pacific Islands
The Pacific Islands comprise 20,000 to 30,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean. The islands are also sometimes collectively called Oceania, although Oceania is sometimes defined as also including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago....
, the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
and Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
. The common names, as well as commercial names, for these trees are:
- Teitai (in KiribatiKiribatiKiribati , officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island nation located in the central tropical Pacific Ocean. The permanent population exceeds just over 100,000 , and is composed of 32 atolls and one raised coral island, dispersed over 3.5 million square kilometres, straddling the...
), - Feta'u (in TongaTongaTonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
), - Nyamplung or Kosambi (in IndonesiaIndonesiaIndonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
) - Bintangor treeBintangorBintangor may refer to:* Bintangor trees are the hardwood trees of the Calophyllum genus.* Bintangor, Sarawak is a town in Sarawak, island of Borneo, Malaysia.* Bintangor River is a river in Sarawak, island of Borneo, Malaysia....
(in Malaysia) and - Poon treePoonPoon may refer to:* The Calophyllum, also known as the "Poon tree"* Poon * Po-on , a novel by Filipino author F. Sionil José...
(in IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
), - GuanandiCalophyllum brasilienseCalophyllum brasiliense is a species of Calophyllum native to subtropical and tropical regions of Central America, South America and Caribe.-Description:...
, Jacareuba or Santa Maria (in Latin AmericaLatin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
).
Habitat
These species grow in a wide number of habitatHabitat (ecology)
A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant or other type of organism...
s, from ridges in mountain forests to coastal swamp
Swamp
A swamp is a wetland with some flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a large number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp...
s, lowland forest and even coral
Coral
Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...
cay
Cay
A cay , also spelled caye or key, is a small, low-elevation, sandy island formed on the surface of coral reefs. Cays occur in tropical environments throughout the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans , where they provide habitable and agricultural land for hundreds of thousands of people...
s. They are large hardwood
Hardwood
Hardwood is wood from angiosperm trees . It may also be used for those trees themselves: these are usually broad-leaved; in temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen.Hardwood contrasts with softwood...
s, attaining 30 m in height and 0.8 m in diameter. It presents shiny and leathery leaves. The tree bark is grey or white and decorticates in large thin strips. The wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
is light in weight, the heartwood pink-red, or almost brown, while the sapwood varies from species to species, often from yellow, brown (often with pink tints) to orange. Species occurring in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
are often buttress
Buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall...
ed.
Uses
Several species have been found to contain naturally occurring calanolides in various quantities.The lightweight hardwood of these species is used in boatmaking for masts
Mast (sailing)
The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall, vertical, or near vertical, spar, or arrangement of spars, which supports the sails. Large ships have several masts, with the size and configuration depending on the style of ship...
and spar
Spar
In sailing, a spar is a pole of wood, metal or lightweight materials such as carbon fiber used on a sailing vessel. Spars of all types In sailing, a spar is a pole of wood, metal or lightweight materials such as carbon fiber used on a sailing vessel. Spars of all types In sailing, a spar is a...
s, as well as in luxury furniture and flooring.
For medicinal (folk medicine
Folk medicine
-Description:Refers to healing practices and ideas of body physiology and health preservation known to a limited segment of the population in a culture, transmitted informally as general knowledge, and practiced or applied by anyone in the culture having prior experience.All cultures and societies...
and ethnopharmacology
Ethnopharmacology
Ethnopharmacology is the scientific study of ethnic groups and their use of drugs.Ethnopharmacology is distinctly linked to plant use, botany, as this is the main delivery of pharmaceuticals. It is also often associated with ethnopharmacy...
) uses of leaves, oil from nuts and crost balsam, for HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
and AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
, see calanolide A
Calanolide A
Calanolide A is a new, experimental non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor first acquired from Calophyllum lanigerum trees in Malaysia. The U.S. National Cancer Institute tested calanolide A as a possible cancer treatment, but had no effect. It was later found to have potent anti-HIV...
and calanolide B, Jacareubin, Tamanu oil, and Calophyllic acid. For medicinal use from their resin, see tacamahac
Tacamahac
Tacamahac is the name of medicinal resins, now little used, obtained from several plant sources including Calophyllum tacamahaca and Calophyllum inophyllum.The word has sometimes been regarded, apparently wrongly, as a synonym of balm of Gilead....
.
Symbolism
The Calophyllum is a national symbol of the PacificPacific Islands
The Pacific Islands comprise 20,000 to 30,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean. The islands are also sometimes collectively called Oceania, although Oceania is sometimes defined as also including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago....
nation of Nauru
Nauru
Nauru , officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country in Micronesia in the South Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Kiribati, to the east. Nauru is the world's smallest republic, covering just...
, appearing on the national coat of arms.