Hopea foxworthyi
Definition
Hopea foxworthyi is a dipterocarp tree endemic to the Philippines, a medium-sized hardwood of lowland and lower hill forest named in honor of the American forester whose work documented the archipelago’s timber trees.
Identities
| Source Type | Identity |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | Hopea foxworthyi |
| Wikidata | Q5456212 |
| DBpedia | N/A |
Also Known As
Foxworth’s Hopea (rendering of the epithet in horticultural and forestry writing).
Examples and Analogies
Its name preserves a chapter of colonial forestry: like a library shelf labeled with its collector, H. foxworthyi memorializes the era when American foresters first inventoried — and began exploiting — the Philippine rainforest.
Usage Scenarios
- Occasional fine-hardwood use in local markets
- Native-species forestry trials and restoration planting
- Historical reference in studies of Philippine forest botany
Strategies
The species benefits from native-tree propagation programs and from protected-area networks on the islands where it persists; seed collections hedge against the loss of wild stands.
Security and Safety Measures
Habitat protection against fire and encroachment is the operative safeguard; as a non-emergent species its harvest poses only routine logging risks.
Historical Context
Described during the early twentieth century as Philippine forestry science matured under American administration, the species belongs to the cohort of endemics catalogued just as industrial logging began its century-long sweep through the islands’ forests.
Challenges and Controversies
Threatened by the same deforestation that defines most Philippine dipterocarps, it illustrates the backlog problem: hundreds of timber-adjacent species were described, logged around, and never systematically monitored.
Related Topic
Yakal — a storied Philippine endemic hardwood from the same dipterocarp forests