A review of dipterocarps - Center for International Forestry Research

Non-Timber Forest Products from Dipterocarps
important Malayan varieties are ‘damar mata Kuching’
from Hopea micrantha and related species, ‘damar
penak’ from Neobalanocarpus heimii, and ‘damar
temak’ from Shorea crassifolia (Blair and Byron 1926).
The principal dammars of India are sal dammar from
Shorea robusta and white dammar from Vateria indica.
H. odorata from Bangladesh, Burma and India, is the
source of dammar, known commercially as ‘rock
dammar’. Dammars are also produced in the island of
Borneo, Java, Sumatra, Thailand, and Vietnam. The
outstanding commercial variety, the Batavian dammar,
comes from Shorea wiesneri from Java and Sumatra
(Burkill 1935).
Dammar is found as natural exudations, on living trees,
in lumps on the ground beneath the trees, near dead
stumps, or even found buried in the ground. These
dammars are usually collected by aborigines. Natural
exudation also occurs from trees which are unhealthy or
damaged by the heartwood borer. Sal resin occurs in
rough, stalactitic brittle pieces, 16-24 cm in size, pale
creamy yellow in colour, nearly opaque with a faint
resinous balsamic odour. It is produced commercially
by tapping the trees.
Dammars are used traditionally for making torches,
caulking boats, and handicrafts. The dipterocarpaceous
resins have also been used as adulterants for the aromatic
resin produced by Styrax benzoin (Styracaceae) which
is used as an incense and medicine. Sal dammar is widely
used as incense in religious ceremonies and as a
disinfectant fumigant. Large quantities of dammar are
an important ingredient in ‘Samagri’ used for cremation.
It can also be used for hardening softer waxes for shoepolish
manufacture, carbon paper, typewriter-ribbon, and
in inferior grades of paints and varnishes for indoor
decorative work, and for mounting microscopic objects.
It has been used as a plastering medium for walls and
roofs and as a cementing material for plywood, asbestos
sheets, etc. Tribal people in India mix the resin with bees’
wax and red-ochre for fastening spear and arrow-heads.
The resin is used in indigenous medicine as an
astringent and detergent and is given in diarrhoea and
dysentery. It is also an ingredient of ointments for skin
diseases and has curative properties against ear troubles,
toothaches, sore eyes, ulcers and wounds. The resin in
powder form is used as an ointment for wounds and sores
(Anon. 1985a).
More recently, the dammars are being used in many
technical preparations, such as in the manufacture of
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paints, batik dyes, sealing wax, printing inks, varnishes,
linoleum and cosmetics. Triterpenes isolated from
dammar have been found to exhibit in vitro antiviral
activity against Herpes simplex virus type I and II
(Poehland et al. 1987).
Dammar export is mainly from Indonesia. The
following species produce high quality resins which fetch
a high price: Shorea javanica, S. lamellata, S. virescens,
S. retinodes, S. assamica ssp. globifera, Hopea
dryobalanoides, H. celebica, H. beccariana and Vatica
rassak (Jafarsidik 1987). Indonesia exports annually
2000 - 7000 tonnes worth US $1.6 million. The dammar
is mainly exported to Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Germany
and Malaysia.
Dammar in Sumatra is produced mainly from dammar
gardens that are part of an agroforestry system. With the
decline in forest areas, farmers have resorted to
developing resinous tree plantations. However, in
Lampung, Sumatra, man-made dipterocarp gardens have
been established since the 19th century (Rappard 1937).
Shorea javanica a native of the region, is grown in an
agroforestry system with other crop trees (Torquebiau
1984), as is Hopea dryobalanoides. Villagers tap the
trees by cutting holes of about 10 cm wide and 15 cm
deep into the trunk to stimulate resin flow. The resin is
collected periodically and the holes deepened. When the
hole reaches the centre of the trunk, a new hole is made.
Tapping commences when the trees are about 20 years
old, and continues for 30 years when production declines.
A fully productive tree may produce 50 kg of resin each
year. One hectare of dammar gardens can produce 4.8
tonnes per year (Torquebiau 1984).
Camphor
Trade in camphor (known as Borneo or Sumatra camphor
(bhimsaini-kapur, barus kapur)) is ancient. Camphor was
used mainly in China and its source was the gregarious
Dryobalanops aromatica (kapur) forests in North and
East Sumatra and Johore. Other species, such as D.
beccarii, also yield camphor but to a lesser extent. The
camphor is found in cavities or fissures in the wood in
the form of solid camphor, or a light fluid called camphor
oil. The tree is felled, cut into blocks and split into wedges
to remove the camphor. One hundred trees rarely yield
more than 8-10 kg solid camphor. In solid form it occurs
in white crystalline translucent fragments, sometimes
in long, 5 kg pieces. It closely resembles the camphor
from Cinnamomum camphora but it is heavier than