Anisoptera thurifera
Also known as: Palosapis (Philippine common name) · Mersawa (regional trade name for the genus in parts of Southeast Asia)
Definition
Anisoptera thurifera is a large rainforest tree of the dipterocarp family, known in the Philippines as palosapis, producing straight, buttressed trunks of pale lightweight timber prized for plywood and veneer. Like other dipterocarps it fruits gregariously at long, irregular intervals — mast years when the forest floor rains winged fruits — and its populations have declined with commercial logging. (Wikipedia)
Identities
| Source Type | Identity |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | Anisoptera thurifera |
| Wikidata | Anisoptera thurifera (Q15472212) |
| DBpedia | N/A |
| ProductOntology | N/A |
| Wiktionary | N/A |
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) | N/A |
| MeSH | N/A |
| NCBI Taxonomy | N/A |
| AGROVOC | N/A |
| Google Scholar | Anisoptera thurifera palosapis dipterocarp timber Philippines |
| ConceptNet | tree |
| OpenCyc | N/A |
Also Known As
- Palosapis (Philippine common name)
- Mersawa (regional trade name for the genus in parts of Southeast Asia)
Examples and Analogies
- The plywood baron of the lowlands: One mature palosapis peels into sheets covering a basketball court’s worth of panels — which is exactly why the species fed the plywood mills of the late twentieth century.
- The synchronized gambler: Like a lottery that pays out once a decade, it floods the forest with seeds in one mast event so seed predators can’t eat them all — a strategy fine against wild pigs, fatal against chainsaws.
Usage Scenarios
1. Plywood, Veneer, and Light Construction
Its pale, uniform wood slices into face veneers and core stock for plywood, and serves in furniture components, boxes, and general construction where durability demands are modest.
2. Mixed-Dipterocarp Forest Ecology
As a canopy emergent it shapes light regimes and fruit pulses that orchestrate the movements of seed-eating birds and mammals.
3. Reforestation and Enrichment Planting
Surviving mother trees are seed sources in some restoration programs, though dipterocarp planting remains technically demanding.
4. Wood-Identification Training
Its timber appears in foresters’ reference sets for teaching species recognition beyond the famous lauan-meranti groupings.
Strategies
- Retain residual seed trees in logged concessions and require line-planting or assisted natural regeneration using dipterocarps.
- Time seed collection to verified mast events, coordinating community nurseries to catch the unpredictable crop.
- Enforce timber-tracking so legally cut volumes stay within permits across the supply chain.
- Map remaining stands on karst and steep terrain — refugia logging has overlooked — as conservation priorities.
Security and Safety Measures
- Felling giant buttressed trees is among forestry’s deadliest jobs; directional-felling training and exclusion zones protect crews.
- Transport of palosapis logs requires documentation; buyers should verify legality to starve out illegal flows.
- Mill dust from any hardwood warrants masks and ventilation to protect workers’ lungs.
Historical Context
The genus Anisoptera was established early in the scientific study of Asian forests, and Philippine material was treated under A. thurifera in colonial-era floras; the country’s trees are now usually referred to the nominate subspecies. Postwar logging booms classed palosapis with the general dipterocarp harvest feeding plywood mills in Mindanao, Luzon, and the Visayas. As accessible old-growth shrank, the species entered international concern listings as declining with its habitats. Today it survives mostly in production-forest fragments, protected-area residuals, and the steep sites machines cannot reach. (Wikipedia)
Challenges and Controversies
Overharvest History
Decades of preference for its veneer logs stripped lowland stands faster than regeneration replaced them.
Irregular Reproduction
Mast-fruiting every several years means missed seed years translate into decade-long regeneration gaps.
Lauan-Group Market Blur
Trade statistics lump many dipterocarps together, letting species-level declines hide inside “mixed lauan” volumes.