Dipterocarpus kerrii
Definition
Dipterocarpus kerrii is a huge emergent rainforest tree of the Philippines and Southeast Asia, belonging to the keruing timber group of the dipterocarp family. It rises above the main canopy on buttressed trunks and bears the genus’s characteristic winged fruits.
Identities
| Source Type | Identity |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | Dipterocarpus kerrii |
| Wikidata | Q3029283 |
| DBpedia | N/A |
Also Known As
Keruing (collective trade name for Dipterocarpus timbers of this group).
Examples and Analogies
Where most forest trees form the crowd, D. kerrii is the watchtower: a single emergent overlooking the canopy sea, so tall that its flowering crowns are known partly from binoculars and fallen petals.
Usage Scenarios
- Production of keruing timber for construction and plywood
- Oleoresin extraction for varnishes and traditional uses
- Flagship emergent in discussions of old-growth forest retention
Strategies
Because it ranges across several countries, its conservation depends on coordinated action: keeping large forest blocks intact, limiting harvest of residual giants, and monitoring stands within protected areas.
Security and Safety Measures
Emergent trees are lightning-struck and wind-throw prone, and their resinous wood burns fiercely; felling operations treat them as maximum-hazard stems.
Historical Context
The species was described as regional botanists worked through the dipterocarp wealth of Malesia in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; in the Philippines it shared the fate of the keruing group, heavily cut during the logging boom.
Challenges and Controversies
Across its range the species faces harvesting and conversion of lowland forest; conservation listings flag it as threatened, and the fate of scattered Philippine emergents is tied to enforcement in remaining concessions.
Related Topic
Parashorea malaanonan — another giant emergent of Philippine lowland forests, likewise threatened by logging