edgepedia

Sapindalean and tropical timber genera

22 articles

Anacardium

Anacardium (cashew genus) is a Neotropical genus of 13 accepted species in Anacardiaceae, native from Mexico to tropical South America; its type species Anacardium occidentale is the cashew, the only economically important member.

Astronium urundeuva

Astronium urundeuva (allemão) Engl., aroeira or urunday, a South American Anacardiaceae timber tree; a synonym of Myracrodruon urundeuva, native to Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina, IUCN Least Concern.

Brucea

Brucea J.F.Mill. is a Paleotropical genus of bitter-barked shrubs in Simaroubaceae, about five to nine species, whose Brucea javanica (Ya-dan-zi) yields quassinoids such as bruceines used against dysentery, malaria, and cancer.

Canarium

Canarium L. is a genus of about 120 dioecious tropical trees in Burseraceae, native from tropical Africa to the western Pacific; includes pili nut (C. ovatum), canarium nut (C. indicum), and Manila elemi (C. luzonicum), distinct from the mollusc genus Canarium Schumacher, 1817.

Commiphora

Commiphora is a genus of about 182 arid-adapted trees and shrubs in Burseraceae, the frankincense and myrrh family, native from Africa to Sri Lanka and South America; it is the source of myrrh resin and guggul.

Cotinus

Cotinus (smoketree, smoke bush) is a genus of seven accepted deciduous shrubs and small trees in Anacardiaceae, native from southern Central Europe to China and the southeastern USA to NE Mexico; C. coggygria is the widespread ornamental species.

Dacryodes

Dacryodes is a genus of about 71 evergreen, resin-producing trees in the frankincense family Burseraceae, native to humid tropical forests of tropical America and Asia.

Dodonaea

Dodonaea (hopbush, hopseed bush) is a genus of about 65–72 shrub and tree species in Sapindaceae, mostly Australian, with petal-less flowers and winged capsules; type species Dodonaea viscosa.

Elaeocarpus

Elaeocarpus (rudraksha, quandong) is the largest genus of Elaeocarpaceae, about 350-483 species of Old World tropical trees with fringed petals, blue sculpted drupes, and beads, timber, and medicinal uses.

Hopea

Hopea is a genus of about 100 dipterocarp timber trees from Sri Lanka to New Guinea, known as merawan timber, distinguished from Shorea by two long fruit calyx wings and nested phylogenetically within Shorea.

Khaya

Khaya (African mahogany) is a genus of six large Meliaceae tree species native to tropical Africa, traded as high-value timber, with all assessed species IUCN Vulnerable and CITES Appendix II listing since 2023.

Lansium

Lansium is a genus of three Meliaceae tree species native to Peninsular Thailand and Malesia; its cultivated species Lansium domesticum (langsat, duku, longkong) is a major Southeast Asian fruit tree, distinct from Clausena lansium (wampee).

Mangifera

Mangifera is a genus of about 64 accepted species of tropical Asian trees in Anacardiaceae, first published in 1753, including the mango Mangifera indica and many wild edible mango species.

Manilkara

Manilkara is a pantropical genus of about 75–78 Sapotaceae trees, source of chicle (Manilkara zapota), balata latex (M. bidentata), and heavy durable timber; African origin 32–29 Mya, three Pacific species moved to Abebaia in 2023.

Melia

Melia (chinaberry genus) is a genus of three Meliaceae tree species, M. azedarach, M. dubia, and M. volkensii, native to Africa, Asia, and Australia, known for toxic limonoid-rich fruits, insecticidal compounds, and invasive M. azedarach.

Paullinia

Paullinia (genus, Sapindaceae) is a group of about 185-220 Neotropical lianas including P. cupana, the caffeine-rich guaraná, and P. yoco; native to tropical America, Africa, and Madagascar.

Pometia pinnata

Pometia pinnata (tava, matoa, kasai, oceanic lychee) is a Sapindaceae tree native from Sri Lanka and Yunnan to the Pacific, to 50 m tall, grown for timber and sweet lychee-like edible fruit.

Ruta

Ruta (rue) is a genus of about 12 aromatic Rutaceae herbs native to Macaronesia and the Mediterranean, best known for Ruta graveolens, a medicinal herb with furanocoumarin-related phototoxicity.

Simarouba

Simarouba (aceituno, bitterwood) is a genus of six dioecious Neotropical trees in Simaroubaceae, type species Simarouba amara, native from Mexico and Florida to South America, introduced to India, and rich in medicinal quassinoids.

Swietenia

Swietenia (mahogany genus, Meliaceae) is a New World genus of three species, S. mahagoni, S. macrophylla, and S. humilis, plus hybrid S. x aubrevilleana, native from Mexico to Bolivia and Florida to the Caribbean, source of true mahogany timber, CITES-listed.

Toxicodendron

Toxicodendron, the poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac genus of Anacardiaceae, comprises about 33 species disjunctly distributed in East Asia and North America; all contain urushiol, causing allergic dermatitis, and some yield lacquer.

Zanthoxylum

Zanthoxylum (prickly ash), a pantropical Rutaceae genus of about 225 prickly trees and shrubs, source of Sichuan pepper (hua jiao) from Z. bungeanum and Z. schinifolium, used over 2000 years in Chinese cuisine and widely in traditional medicine, with more than 400 isolated secondary metabolites.