Dipterocarpus grandiflorus
Also known as: Apitong (Philippine name) · Keruing (regional trade name for Dipterocarpus timbers) · Damar-producing apitong, in resin-trade references
Definition
Dipterocarpus grandiflorus, known in the Philippines as apitong and across Southeast Asia by names such as hora and keruing, is a large dipterocarp tree of South and Southeast Asian forests, including the Philippines. It produces heavy, resinous timber used for construction, plywood, and boatbuilding, and it exudes an oily damar resin used in traditional caulking and varnish. The species is assessed as threatened owing to heavy logging across its range.
Identities
| Database | Identifier |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | Dipterocarpus grandiflorus |
| Wikidata | Q1634902 |
| DBpedia | Dipterocarpus_grandiflorus |
Also Known As
- Apitong (Philippine name)
- Keruing (regional trade name for Dipterocarpus timbers)
- Damar-producing apitong, in resin-trade references
Examples and Analogies
Apitong is the workhorse cousin of the lauan group: where red lauan’s wood is light and pale, apitong’s is dense and oil-rich, suited to truck beds and boat keels the way teak suits decking. Its resin-sealed seeds twirl like helicopter blades, an adaptation shared across dipterocarps that disperses them away from the parent’s shade.
Usage Scenarios
The timber is used for heavy construction, bridges, plywood face veneer, railway ties, tool handles, and boats, with resin traditionally used for caulking, torches, and varnish. In the Philippines, remaining stands contribute to enrichment-planting programs in degraded dipterocarp forest, and foresters use its presence alongside other dipterocarps to identify residual old-growth for protection.
Strategies
Management strategies pair harvest regulation with restoration: retaining seed trees, collecting seed during masting events, and raising seedlings in DENR-partner nurseries for replanting. Trade strategies channel demand toward certified or plantation keruing. Research strategies study its resin chemistry and drought tolerance, traits relevant as forests shift under climate change.
Security and Safety Measures
The species’ principal safeguard is legal: it falls under regulations governing threatened and premium timber species, with logging bans in natural forests and transport permits controlling the wood trade. Resin tappers and fellers work with heavy, oily timber whose weight and resin-soaked dust demand protective equipment. Fire exclusion protects planted seedlings, which are highly fire-sensitive.
Historical Context
Apitong entered Philippine and regional timber commerce with the dipterocarp boom of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, when keruing-type woods became standard export lumber from Myanmar through Malaya to the Philippines. Its gum was among the damars traded for varnish generations before petrochemical substitutes. As accessible stands were cut out across Asia, assessments moved the species into threatened categories, and Philippine policy shifted from concession logging to restoration forestry.
Challenges and Controversies
The species exemplifies the difficulty of managing a broadly distributed tropical timber taxon: local depletions are masked by range-wide data, and keruing timber in trade mixes several Dipterocarpus species, hindering enforcement. Illegal cutting of residual apitong persists in frontier forests, and restoration is slow because dipterocarps seed intermittently, at multi-year masting intervals that nurseries must race to exploit.