Volume 14 > Part 2 > Year 2019 > Page 348 > Styracaceae > Styrax

3. Styrax benzoin Dryand.wfo-0000492265

Philos. Trans. Roy. Soc. London 77: 308, tab. 12. 1787; Roxb., Fl. Ind. 2: 416. 1832 (‘benjoin’); G.Don, Gen. Hist. 4: 6. 1837–38; A.DC., Prodr. 8: 260. 1844; C.B.Clarke in Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 3: 589. 1882; Perkins in Engl., Pflanzenr. 30 (IV.241): 59, fig. 7. 1907; Ridl., Fl. Malay Penins. 2: 297. 1923; Guillaumin in Lecomte, Fl. Indo-Chine 3: 983. 1933; H.R.Fletcher in Craib, Fl. Siam. Enum. 2: 392. 1938; Steenis, Fl. Males., Ser. I, Spermat., 4: 52, fig. 2, 4, 5b. 1949; Putz & Ng in Ng, Tree Fl. Malaya 3: 263. 1978; Svengs. & J.E.Vidal in Morat, Fl. Cambodge, Laos & Vietnam 26: 162, pl. 29: 1–8. 1992.— Plagiospermum benzoin (Dryand.) Pierre, Fl. For. Cochinch. 4: 260. 1892.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Trees, to 25 m high, dbh 40 cm; stem slightly fluted; young twigs hairy, glabrescent, hairy layer usually not detaching in strips. Bark thin, smooth to finely roughened, sometimes cracked, light grey to mottled grey and brown to brown; inner bark red to red-brown; exudate purplish red; wood white-green. Indumentum of simple and stellate hairs in various sizes. Leaves: petiole 5–12 mm long, V-shaped above, longitudinally ridged when dry, tomentose; blades ovate (to elliptic to oblong), 6–18.5 by 3.5–8 cm, papery to pergamentaceous, base broadly, shortly attenuate to cuneate to rounded, often asymmetric (one side larger), sometimes oblique, margin entire, apex cuspidate, upper surface glabrous except for the basal part of the midrib, young hairy with small (up to 0.2 mm long) stellate hairys, usually still partly present on youngest leaves till maturity, later glabrescent than S. benzoides, dark green, lower surface densely hairy with up to 0.2 mm short stellate hairs, especially short on the venation, epidermis not visible, greyish green; venation raised on both sides, more so underneath, to midrib and secondary veins slightly sunken, highest order veins distinct above, secondary veins 7–8(–13), third order veins scalariform, visible underneath, higher order densely reticulate, visible above. Inflorescences axillary to terminal, racemose to somewhat paniculate (few short branches) thyrses, up to 7 cm long, tomentose with longer (ca 0.3 mm long) stellate hairs than on leaf; bracts ca 2.5 mm long, tomentose. Flowers 14–19 mm diam.; pedicels ca 3.3–3.5 mm long, long stellately villose, round but longitudinally ridged when dry; bracts up to 4 mm long, villose; buds ovoid, 6–11 by 3.3–4 mm. Calyx 3–3.5 by 3.2–4 mm; teeth indistinct to triangular, then 0.8–1.2 by 1.1–1.5 mm. Corolla 11–13 mm high; tube ca 1.7–2 mm high; lobes oblong, 8–11 by 1.2–3 mm, valvate, inrolled, few hairs inside, especially apically. Stamens: filament tube 2.2–3 mm high, free part of filaments 3–4 mm long, hardly narrowing towards apex, completely hairy; anthers 3.2–3.8 mm long. Ovary ovoid, ca 1.5 mm wide; style 9–11 mm long. Fruits flattened globose, 15–18 by 15–22.5 mm, slightly wrinkled, indehiscent, greyish green; wall 1.5–5 mm thick when dry; calyx separate from fruit, flat, saucer-shaped to reflexed. Seed flattened globose, 11–17 by 12–22 mm, apically somewhat apiculate, raised ridges not present, blackish when fresh.

Thailand : NORTHERN: Mae Hong Son (Mae Hong Son), Chiang Mai (Angka Noi, Doi Inthanon, Doi Ma Pun Liang, Doi Pui, Mae Chaem, Mae Chon Luang, Mae Rah Ah Watershed station), Lamphun (Mae Li), Lampang (Chae Son); NORTH-EASTERN: Bueng Kan (Phu Wua), Sakon Nakhon (Phu Phan); EASTERN: Si Sa Ket (Chong Bat Lak); SOUTH-EASTERN: Ubon Ratchathani (Ban Bahai Gene Conservation Staion, Khong Chiam); PENINSULAR: Songkhla (Pa Gard non-hunting area), Pattani, Yala (Betong, Than To), Narathiwat (Bala-Hala, Tanyong Mas).

Distribution : India, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malay Peninsula (type Cyrta dealbata), Sumatra (type Styrax benzoin and names based on it), Java, the Philippines.

Ecology : Evergreen forests, pine-oak-dipterocarp forests, deciduous dipterocarp forests, open disturbed remnants of dry evergreen forests; soil sandy loam, laterite, bedrock granite or sandstone; 40–1,125 m alt. Flowering: May–July; fruiting: March, July–November.

Vernacular : Kam-ma-yae (กำมะแย)(Malay-Narathiwat); kam yan (กำยาน); sa-dan (สะด่าน)(Khmer-Surin).

CommonName : Benzoin.

Uses: The wood is worthless. The benzoin, the balsamic resin from incisions in the bark, is used in medicine, perfumes and incense.

Notes: 1. The galls are banana-like galled inflorescences and perhaps larger than those of Styrax benzoides.

2. The species shows a geocline in the fruits, those in Chiang Mai are smallest, those in the Peninsular part the largest, Eastern is in between.

3. See note 1 under Styrax apricus for the differences between S. apricus, S. benzoides and S. benzoin.