Skip to main content

Amboyna pine (Agathis dammara)

Dlium Amboyna pine (Agathis dammara)

Damar or amboyna pine or Agathis alba (Agathis dammara) is a plant species in the Araucariaceae, a large tree with a height of up to 65 meters, a long, round cylindrical trunk with a diameter of more than 2 meters, cultivated as an industrial forest in tropical mountains for sap that is processed into copal.

A. dammara has a grayish or light brown or black bark with slightly reddish, finely dimpled to silvery and thin scales or with lots of resin or coarse blisters, peeling off in small pieces so as to be slightly epiphytic.







Opposite leaves, oval-shaped, very variable even on a single tree, tapering towards a rounded tip, thick fleshy and light to dark green in color. Young trees are lanceolate and sharp. Old tree is long oblong with rounded top, 15 cm long, 4 cm wide with 1-8 mm stalk.

Ripe seed cones are ovoid, 10.5x9.5 cm, cylindrical with loose surfaces, basal bracts form loose cupules and are often square, conical scales are almost triangular in shape, upper corners of scales are broad and thin rounded. The seeds are subovoid, 1.5 cm long and up to 1.3 cm long on one wing.

This tree grows naturally in lowland rain forests to an altitude of 1,200 meters. It is planted for harvesting resin which is processed into copal. Resin is the sap that comes out when the bark is injured. The sap will flow out and freeze in the air. Over time this sap will harden. Sap is also obtained from underground deposits.

The plant contains limonene, biflavone, amentoflavone, β-bisabolene, β-myrcene, alkaloids, steroids, anthraquinones, flavonoids, saponins, tannins, polyphenols. Sometimes used as an Alzheimer's medicine, HIV medicine, treating memory problems, wound medicine, asthma, liniment and has antibacterial activity.

TAXON

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Pinopsida
Order: Pinales
Family: Araucariaceae
Genus: Agathis Salisb. in Trans. Linn. Soc. London 8: 311 (1807)
Species: Agathis dammara (Lamb.) Rich. in Comm. Bot. Conif. Cycad.: 83 (1826)

HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS

Agathis alba (Rumph. ex Bory) Oken in Lehrb. Naturgesch. 2(2.1): 603 (1825)
Agathis loranthifolia Salisb. in Trans. Linn. Soc. London 8: 312 (1807)
Agathis orientalis Mottet in Dict. Prat. Hort. 1: 77 (1892-1893)
Agathis pinus-dammara Poir. in J.B.A.M.de Lamarck, Tabl. Encycl. 3: 711 (1823)
Dammara alba Rumph. ex Bory in Dict. Class. Hist. Nat. 5: 321 (1824)
Dammara loranthifolia Link in Enum. Hort. Berol. Alt. 2: 411 (1822)
Dammara orientalis Lamb. in Descr. Pinus 2: 16 (1824)
Dammara rumphii C.Presl in Abh. Königl. Böhm. Ges. Wiss., ser. 5, 6: 596 (1851)
Abies dammara (Lamb.) Dum.Cours. in Bot. Cult., ed. 2. 6: 474 (1811)
Pinus dammara Lamb. in Descr. Pinus 1: 61 (1803)

HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS

Agathis celebica (Koord.) Warb. in Monsunia 1: 185 (1900)
Agathis hamii Meijer Drees in Bull. Jard. Bot. Buitenzorg, sér. 3, 16: 462 (1940)
Agathis philippinensis Warb. (1900)
Agathis regia Warb. (1900)
Dammara alba var. celebica Hassk. in Abh. Naturf. Ges. Halle 9: 180 (1866)
Dammara celebica Koord. in Meded. Lands Plantentuin 19: 263 (1898)
Dammara orientalis var. alba C.Knight in Syn. Conif. Pl.: 45 (1850)
Dammara orientalis var. pallens Carrière in Traité Gén. Conif.: 426 (1855)

PUBLICATIONS

Farjon, A. (2010). A handbook of the world's Conifers 1: 1-526. BRILL, Leiden, Boston.

Govaerts, R. (1995). World Checklist of Seed Plants 1(1, 2): 1-483, 1-529. MIM, Deurne.

Govaerts, R. (2003). World Checklist of Selected Plant Families Database in ACCESS: 1-216203. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

VERNACULAR NAME

Bantoanon: Balaw
Buru: Damar raja, Kisi
English: Amboyna pine, Damar, Dammar pine, Dammar kauri, Celebes kauri,
Amboina pine, Amboina pitch tree
Filipino: Dayungon
Halmahera: Koano, Kolano, Moleauno
Indonesian: Damar, Damar biasa
Java: Damar
North Sulawesi: Dama, Damaa, Damah, Damahu, Rama, Marama puti
Samar: Dayungon
Sunda: Ki damar
Ternate: Salo

Aryo Bandoro
Dlium TheDlium
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dlium

Popular Posts

Black jumping spider (Hyllus diardi)

Black jumping spider ( Hyllus diardi ) is an animal species in the Salticidae, black and white spiders, long hair, round head, elongated belly, relatively small, arboreal, perched on leaves in bushes and low trees in forests and agricultural lands. H. diardi has black and white color, shiny surface and white hair all over the body. The head is round, shiny black with a linear white line in the middle. Black eyes on the front of the head. The stomach has an elongated, jointed, black cylindrical shape with black plots at the top of each segment. The legs are long, segmented, shiny black or brownish in color and hairy. Black jumping spiders live arboreal, perch on leaf surfaces, low bushes, trees in forests, agricultural land, roadsides and shade. Very sensitive to human presence and will hide behind leaves to avoid sight. Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Subphylum: Chelicerata Class: Arachnida Order: Araneae Suborder: Araneomorphae Infraorder: Entelegynae Superfamily: Salticoi...

Hairy senna (Senna hirsuta)

Hairy senna ( Senna hirsuta ) is a species of plant in the Fabaceae family. It is an upright shrub, growing up to 2.5 meters tall. The leaves are compound on petioles up to 13 cm long. They usually have 2-6 pairs of leaflets, are egg-shaped, and have white hairs, up to 10 cm long and 5 cm wide. The flowers are yellow and arranged at the tips of branches and in the upper leaf axils in clusters of 2-5. The petals are 12-16 mm long, have 6 stamens, 3-8 mm long anthers, and 4 staminodes. Flowering occurs almost monthly. The pods are cylindrical, up to 15 cm long, 4-6 mm wide, and curved. TAXON Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Fabales Family: Fabaceae Subfamily: Caesalpinioideae Tribe: Cassieae Subtribe: Cassiinae Genus: Senna Mill. in Gard. Dict. Abr., ed. 4.: [s.p.] (1754) Species: Senna hirsuta (L.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby in Phytologia 44: 499 (1979) Variety: Senna hirsuta var. acuminata (Benth.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby, Senna ...

Cat's whiskers (Orthosiphon aristatus)

Remujung atau kumis kucing atau cat's whiskers ( Orthosiphon aristatus ) is a species of plant in the Lamiaceae, an erect herb, the lower part is rooted at the joints, 2 meters high, the stem has four corners and is somewhat grooved with short hair or bald, has joints where branches grow to the left and right and is dark purple. O. aristatus has round or oval, lanceolate, round-ovate or rhombic leaves starting from the base, 1-10 cm long, 1-5 cm wide, 4-29 cm long stalks and a main vein in the middle, leaf stalk length 7-29 cm. Glandular flower petals, veins and bases are short and sparsely hairy, while the uppermost part is bald. The terminal crown is a bunch that comes out of the end of the branch with a length of 7-29 cm. Length 13-27mm, covered with short purple hairs on the top and then turning white, tube length 10-18 mm, lip length 4.5-10mm, blunt flower strands, round. Stamens are longer than flower tubes and exceed the upper lip of the flower. Dark brown fruit, 1.75-...