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40. DIPTEROCARPEAE
1. Dipterocarpus glandulosus Thwaites. Enum. 34. 1858. (Fig. 184).
Sink. Dorana: 7am. Yennai: Sans. Guga.
A large tree, about 55 m tall with a straight trunk, pale grey bark flaking off irregularly,
few branches and a sparse crown, young parts hairy; leaves simple, alternate, stipulate,
7.5—12.5 cm long, oblong-oval, rounded at base, shortly acuminate, entire, glabrous above
except on midrib, finely stellate pubescent and glandular beneath with 11 —13 pairs of lateral
veins, new leaves light bronze; petioles 1.8—2.5 cm long, stellate-hairy; stipules 3.7 cm long
with tufts of long stellate hairs outside; flowers regular, bisexual, pale yellow with a pink tinge,
3.7 cm diameter, few in short axillary racemes, pedicels stellate-hairy; sepals 5, connate into a
campanulate tube, two lobes much longer than the others, stellate-pubescent, lobes greatly
enlarged in the fruit; petals 5, connate at the base, contorted, stellate-pubescent outside; stamens
numerous, filaments short, anthers linear, long-acuminate; ovary superior, 3-carpellary, 3-locular
with two pendulous ovules in each chamber; fruit a l-seeded indehiscent nut with an enlarged
calyx-tube surrounding it and lobes expanded into two or three wings 9—10 cm long.
Flowers during March and April.
Illustrations. Worthington, Ceylon trees, pi. 47. 1959; Herb. Peradeniya, drawing.
Distribution. A rare, endemic tree growing in the moist, low-country mostly in the
Sabaragamuwa Province.
Ceylon. Without locality, Thwaites CP. 2590.
Uses. The resin which exudes from the stem and collects at the base of the tree, yields
an oil which is used externally in the treatment of rheumatic swellings and leprosy. It is a suitable
substitute for Gurjun balsam.
The oil is also used for varnishing furniture and for dissolving paints.
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