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Cyrtophyllum fragrans
In Singapore: Tembusu, Tembusu Hutan, Tembusu Tembaga, Common Tembusu, Temusu, Temensu, Temesu, Semesu, Anan, Tembusu-padang, Ironwood, 香灰莉 (Native to Singapore, Least Concern)
7 NParks heritage trees in Singapore: Found in; Found in Maida Vale, in front of House No. 13 (Seletar Aerospace Park); Found in Singapore Botanic Gardens, at Lawn E; Found in Lagos Circle, in front of House No. 208; Found in Lagos Circle, in front of House No. 206; Found in; Found in
Tembusu (Cyrtophyllum fragrans) is a large evergreen tree from Southeast Asia, prized for very durable wood and fragrant yellowish flowers. It is a tropical timber and garden tree that needs warm, humid, frost-free conditions.
The tembusu (, təm-BOO-soo or tem-BOO-soo), is a large evergreen tree in the family Gentianaceae, native to Southeast Asia (from Indo-China to New Guinea). It is the Malay name for Cyrtophyllum fragrans (synonym Fagraea fragrans). It is also known as ironwood.
Its trunk is dark brown, with deeply fissured bark, looking somewhat like a bittergourd. The tree grows in an irregular shape from 10 to 25 metres high, with light green oval-shaped leaves, and yellowish flowers with a distinct fragrance. The fruits of the tree are bitter tasting red berries, which are eaten by Pteropus fruit bats.
The trunk of this tree can produce very hard wood that can be used to make chopping boards and floors. The wood can last over a hundred years, as it is not consumed by termites and weevils.
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Tembusu by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
