Biology Report

I. Dipterocarpus retusus
1. Feature
- Dipterocarpus retusus is a deciduous tree growing up to
40 metres tall. The straight, cylindrical bole can be free
of branches for 15 - 20 metres and 100 - 150cm in
diameter. Leaf oval or oblong eggs, 20-40cm long, 15-
25cm wide, intact edge, wavy, main tendon with many
hard pressed bristles, lateral ribs 15-20 pairs, many star-
shaped feathers, dark brown, attached leaves red egg-
shaped 8-12cm long. Flowers are self-clustered, large
flowers with sepals longer than 2cm, petals covered
with stars. The fruit is egg-shaped or globose, with a
diameter of 2-3cm. two large fruit wings 18-20cm long,
with 3 prominent ribs. The brown parashorea flowers in
clusters are light brown, when the flowers die, the petals
will turn darker brown and are dried in the sun before
releasing themselves in the wind. A large timber tree,
commonly harvested from the wild, it is planted as a
timber crop in northern Vietnam. The populations in
Vietnam, restricted to northern evergreen or monsoon
forests, have been reduced to at least half their original
size. The plant is classified as 'Vulnerable' in the IUCN
Red List of Threatened Species(2011)

- Brown parashorea grows in closed forests, tropical evergreen trees at altitudes below 700m,
especially trees up to 1000m. Brown parashorea usually grows in clusters on mixed clay, thick layer,
draining water. Light-loving tree with secondary roots that develops, grows relatively quickly, 15-
year-old tree is 15 meters high and 25cm diameter. Flowering season is about January-February,
fruit ripening around August-September. At the beginning of the rainy season, the brown parashorea
leaves on the tree begin to dry out and float down to the ground, creating a natural beauty.

- Habitat: Moist evergreen, sometimes semi-deciduous, montane forest. Moist evergreen mid-
 mountain forests, at elevations of 800 - 1,300 metres, descending to lower elevations in seasonal
areas, and as low as 100 metres in Assam

2. Distribution
- E. Asia - southern China, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos and in
Vietnam. In our country, trees grow in the provinces of Ha Giang, Tuyen Quang, Vinh Phu, Lang
Son, Ha Bac, Hai. Hung, Nam Ha, Ninh Binh go to Nghe An, Quang Binh, Thua Thien - Hue, to
Khanh Hoa, Binh Thuan.

3. Uses
- The resin from the trunk is applied to wounds to help the healing process. An oleo-resin is obtained
from the trunk. It is used medicinally; to make torches for lighting; for caulking boats; as a coat for
waterproofing paper; and as a varnish for boats, walls and furniture. The resin is obtained by cutting a
hole in the trunk near the base (about 90 - 150cm from the ground) and then dipping out the resin with
a spoon as it collects there. To prolong the flow, a fire made from dead leaves or brushwood is made
in the hole at intervals - this burns off the dried resinous film and allows the resin to flow again. The
wood is heavy, soft, not very durable in contact with the ground and susceptible to termite and insect
attack. It is used for construction and making furniture. Because of its resinous nature it is less
suitable for flooring and woodwork exposed to the sun. The wood can be used to make charcoal

II. Cassia fistula

1. Feature
- Small semi-evergreen or deciduous timber tree, reaching
10–20 m tall, growing rapidly. The diameter of the trunk is
about 40 cm. White gray stalks, pink flesh 6–8 mm thick
are often used as red dyes. Solid, heavy, distinctive core
wood can be used in house construction, home appliances,
and agricultural tools. The core is rich in tannin. Branches
smooth, once even bifurcated, growing at 15–60 cm long
with 3-8 pairs of deciduous leaflets. The leaflets are
opposite, wide oval to long oval, 7–21 cm long, 4–9 cm
wide, pointed at a wedge-shaped base, wide, smooth.

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 - Large inflorescences, many flowers but sparse, drooping branches to 20–40 cm long;
Common stalks are smooth, 15–35 cm long or more. Wing oval on the outside covered with
smooth feathers. Each flower 4–7 cm in diameter with 5 bright yellow petals has a wide,
roughly equal oval with short nails; stamens 10, short fluff cover. Gourd and stigma covered
with fluffy hair. Pod pods are cylindrical, slightly burned, 20–60 cm long or more, fruit
diameter 15–25 mm, bearing large oval seeds, when dried with a hard shell, can be used as an
enema; the pulp has an unpleasant odor. Flowering season 5-7 (Northern hemisphere) or
November (Southern hemisphere). The flowers are blooming and the wrong flower is so
beautiful. The seeds contain toxins.

- Cassia fistula is a tree of deciduous forests ranging from tropical to moist through subtropical
forest zones. It is found from sea level up to an altitude of 1300 m. It occurs on dry, shallow
mountain slopes as well as on better sites. The golden tree can grow where rainfall is between
480 and 2720 mm, and where annual temperature ranges from 18 to 29°C. It grows on a wide
range of soils including sandy and loamy soils with pH from 5.5 to 8.7, though it does better on
calcareous soils and red volcanic soils. The tree can withstand moderate amount of shade, is
drought resistant, but not frost hardy. It is not an N-fixing tree

2. Distribution

- Cassia fistula is thought to have originated from South-East Asia, and was introduced
throughout the tropics. Golden trees have escaped cultivation in Costa Rica, Guyana, and
French Guiana (Boggan et al., 1997), and are naturalized in many parts of the tropics including
the West Indies, Mexico, Ecuador, Belize, and parts of Micronesia. It is considered as an
invasive in Queensland, Australia (Datiles et al., 2017).

- In Vietnam, Cassia fistula grows wild in thin forests of Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Dak Lak, Dak
Nong. It is also grown in urban areas such as Nha Trang, Da Lat, Da Nang, Saigon,…

3. Uses

- Cassia fistula is a multipurpose tree. It is widely grown as an ornamental plant in tropical and
subtropical areas due to its profuse flowering. The flower of the golden tree is Thailand's
national symbol and the state flower of the Kerala state in India. Cassia fistula provides fuel
and good quality charcoal, as well as a hard and heavy timber suited to make furniture, farm
implements, posts, wheels and mortars. The bark yields tannins and dyestuff. The flowers
produce pollen and the base of the leaf-stalk yields a nectar that is collected by bees. In India,
some people eat the flowers. Golden tree twigs are commonly lopped for fodder. Cassia fistula
features extensively in ethnomedicine. Leaf extracts are known for their antidiarrhoeal activity
demonstrated in laboratory studies with rabbits or guinea pigs. Some extracts of leaves and

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 flowers have a significant antibacterial activity and other valuable pharmacological activities,
and are thus used in traditional South Asian pharmacopoeia.

III. Khaya senegalensis (Desr.) A.Juss.

1. Feature

- More or less evergreen, monoecious, medium-sized tree up to 30(–35)m tall; bole branchless for
up to 10(–16) m but often much shorter and crooked, up to 100(–250) cm in diameter, buttresses
short or absent; bark surface grey to dark grey or greyish brown, initially smooth but becoming
scaly with thin, rounded scales, inner bark dark pink to reddish, exuding a reddish gum; crown
rounded, dense; twigs glabrous. Leaves arranged spirally but clustered near ends of branches,
paripinnately compound with (2–)3–5(–6) pairs of leaflets; stipules absent; petiole and rachis
together up to 25 cm long; petiolules 3–4 mm long; leaflets opposite or nearly so, elliptical to
oblong, 5–12 cm × 2.5–5 cm, cuneate and slightly asymmetrical at base, obtuse or very shortly
acuminate at apex, margins entire, thinly leathery, glabrous, pinnately veined with 8–10 pairs of
lateral veins. Inflorescence an axillary or seemingly terminal panicle up to 20 cm long.

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- Flowers unisexual, male and female flowers very similar in appearance, regular, usually 4-
merous, whitish, sweet-scented; pedicel 1–2 mm long; calyx lobed almost to the base, with
rounded lobes c. 1.5 mm long; petals free, elliptical, c. 4 mm × 2 mm, somewhat hooded; stamens
fused into an urn-shaped tube c. 5 mm long, with usually 8 included anthers near apex, alternating
with rounded lobes; disk cushion-shaped; ovary superior, globose to conical, 1–2 mm in diameter,
4-celled, style up to 1 mm long, stigma disk-shaped; male flowers with rudimentary ovary, female
flowers with smaller, non-dehiscing anthers.

- Fruit an erect, nearly globose, woody capsule 4–6 cm in diameter, pale grey to greyish brown,
dehiscent by 4 valves, many-seeded. Seeds disk-shaped or quadrangular, strongly flattened, c. 2 cm
× 2.5 cm, narrowly winged all around the margin, brown. Seedling with hypogeal germination,
cotyledons remaining enclosed in the seed coat; epicotyl 5–6 cm long; first 2 leaves opposite,
simple.

2. Distribution

- Khaya senegalensis occurs from Mauritania and Senegal east to northern Uganda. It is
commonly planted within its natural area of distribution, mainly as ornamental and roadside tree,
and also outside this area, e.g. in Cape Verde, Tanzania, Malawi, Madagascar, Réunion, Egypt,
South Africa, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Australia and tropical America. In drier zones in Sri
Lanka it has become a priority species for timber plantation establishment since mid 1990s, with
more than 500 ha of plantation established by 2004 and 200 ha/year of new plantations planned for
the future.

3. Uses

- The wood is valued for carpentry, joinery, furniture, cabinet work, ship building and decorative
veneer. It is suitable for construction, flooring, interior trim, vehicle bodies, toys, novelties, railway
sleepers, turnery and pulpwood. Traditionally, the wood is used for dug-out canoes, household
implements such as mortars and spoons, and drums. It is also used as fuelwood and for charcoal
production.

- The bitter-tasting bark is highly valued in traditional medicine. Bark decoctions or macerations
are widely taken against fever caused by malaria, and against stomach complaints, diarrhoea,
dysentery and anaemia, as anodyne in cases of rheumatism and headache, and as tonic,
emmenagogue and anthelmintic. They are also used as purgative, antidote and abortifacient, and to
treat syphilis, leprosy, chickenpox and angina. The bark is applied externally as disinfectant in
cases of inflammations and to treat skin diseases, rash, scabies, wounds, ulcers, boils,
haemorrhoids, swellings and toothache. The bark is commonly used in veterinary medicine, as

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anthelmintic, tonic and appetizer, and to treat trypanosomiasis, liver flukes, diarrhoea and ulcers. In
Uganda it is used as fish poison. In Cameroon the bark is in demand as an additive in local beer
brewing. Leaves are also used in traditional medicine, to treat skin complaints, wounds, jaundice,
oedema, headache and depression, and as purgative. Roots are applied against jaundice, stomach-
ache, oedema and amenorrhoea. The roots and/or bark are an ingredient of complex arrow poisons
of which Strophanthus roots or seeds are the main ingredients. Flowers are used in medicines
against stomach complaints and syphilis. Seed oil is rubbed in to treat rheumatism and influenza,
and it is taken to treat syphilis. Young twigs and roots are used as chewing sticks and toothbrushes.

- In Ghana the bark has been used for dyeing cloth brownish. The foliage is a common source of
fodder, but it has a low fodder quality and is mainly used towards the end of the dry season when
better-quality forage is not available, or in mixtures with better fodders. The seed oil is used in
cosmetics and for cooking. The wood ash is added to stored grain to prevent insect attack. Khaya
senegalensis is commonly planted as a roadside tree and ornamental shade tree, and sometimes for
soil stabilization. It has been planted successfully in Burkina Faso in a taungya system with
groundnut as intercrop. In many regions it is considered a magic tree used in rituals.