Canarium

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Canarium
Fruiting branch of the canarium nut Canarium harveyi
Scientific classification
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Canarium

Species

About 100, see text

Canarium is a genus of about 100 species of tropical and subtropical trees, in the family Burseraceae. They grow naturally across tropical Africa, south and southeast Asia, Indochina, Malesia, Australia and western Pacific Islands; including from southern Nigeria east to Madagascar, Mauritius, Sri Lanka and India; from Burma, Malaysia and Thailand through the Malay Peninsula and Vietnam to south China, Taiwan and the Philippines; through Borneo, Indonesia, Timor and New Guinea, through to the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Palau.[2]

They grow up to large evergreen trees of 40–50 m (130–160 ft) tall, and have alternately arranged, pinnate leaves.[2]

Common names

The trees and their edible nuts have a large number of common names in their range. These include Pacific almond, canarium nut, pili nut, Java almond, Kenari nut, galip nut, nangai, and ngali.[3]

Species

This species listing was sourced from The Plant List data aggregation website that takes in some inaccurate data. The brief species distribution information was sourced from Flora Malesiana,[2] the Flora of China (series) and the Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants information system.

Canarium resinieferum seeds dispersed by hornbills in Pakke Tiger Reserve

Uses and ecology

Several species have edible nuts, known as galip nut or nangae (C. indicum), pili nut (C. ovatum), or simply canarium nut (C. harveyi and C. indicum). C. indicum are among the most important nut-bearing trees in eastern Indonesia and the Southwest Pacific. C. ovatum is cultivated as a food crop only in the Philippines.[4]

Canarium odontophyllum, known commonly as dabai or kembayau, is a species with a nutritious fruit with a creamy taste. It is hard when raw and may be pickled or softened with hot water when prepared. It is high in protein, antioxidants, and mineral nutrients.[5] Many animals feed on the fruit in the wild, such as the red-bellied lemur (Eulemur rubriventer) and the ruffed lemurs (Varecia) of Madagascar's eastern rainforests.

Dammar resin from Canarium strictum

Canarium album produces a fruit consumed in Vietnam, Thailand (where it is known as nam liap (Thai: หนำเลี้ยบ), samo chin (Thai: สมอจีน) or kana (Thai: กาน้า)) and in China (Chinese olive) with an appearance of a big olive.

Canarium luzonicum, commonly known as elemi, is a tree native to the Philippines. An oleoresin, which contains Elemicin, is harvested from it.

Superb fruit-doves (Ptilinopus superbus) are known to be fond of the fruit of scrub turpentine (C. australianum), which they swallow whole.[6][7]

References

  1. ^ International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries; Australian National Botanic Gardens https://www.ipni.org/n/5127-1. Retrieved 13 Nov 2013. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ^ a b c Leenhouts, P. W.; Kalkman, C.; Lam, H. J. (March 1956). "Canarium (Burseraceae)" (Digitised, online). Flora Malesiana. Series I, Spermatophyta : Flowering Plants. Vol. 5. Leiden, The Netherlands: Rijksherbarium / Hortus Botanicus, Leiden University. pp. 249–296. Retrieved 13 Nov 2013.
  3. ^ "Canarian indicum" http://agroforestry.net/tti/Canarium-canariumnut.pdf, accessed 12 Dec 2013; Sheppard, Peter J. "Lapita Colonization across the Near/Remote Oceania Boundary" Current Anthropology Vol. 52, No. 6 (Dec 2011), p. 802
  4. ^ Pili Nut, Canarium ovatum, New Crop Fact Sheet. Purdue University Center for New Crops and Plant Products.
  5. ^ Ali-Hassan, S., et al. 2013. Antioxidative phytochemicals and anti-cholinesterase activity of native kembayau (Canarium odontophyllum) fruit of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Journal of Nutrition & Food Sciences 4(1) 1.
  6. ^ Crome, F. H. J. (1975). "The ecology of fruit pigeons in tropical northern Queensland". Wildlife Research. 2 (2): 155–185. doi:10.1071/wr9750155. Retrieved 16 Nov 2013.
  7. ^ Frith, H. J.; Crome, F. H. J.; Wolfe, T. O. (1976). "Food of fruit-pigeons in New Guinea". Emu. 76 (2): 49–58. doi:10.1071/mu9760049. Retrieved 16 Nov 2013.