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Borneo Teak

Intsia palembanica

Also called Merbau, Marabaw Tree Of Malacca

In Singapore: Merbau, Malacca Teak, Borneo Teak (Native to Singapore, Critically Endangered)

Borneo Teak
Photo: Kembangsemangkuk, CC BY-SA 4.0

Borneo teak (Intsia palembanica) is a large tropical hardwood tree from Southeast Asia and New Guinea, prized for timber and grown as a shade or street tree in warm, humid areas. It needs a warm, wet climate and is not practical as a houseplant.

Family
Fabaceae (Pea & bean family)
Grows as
Tree
Light
Full sun
Water
Water regularly while young and during dry spells; established trees tolerate seasonal rain.
Soil
Well-drained loam or sandy soil; tolerates a range of soils.
Temperature
22–34 °C; protect below 15 °C
How easy
Moderate
Native range
Bangladesh to New Guinea
Climate
wet tropical

About

Intsia palembanica is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae. The specific epithet palembanica is for Palembang in Sumatra, Indonesia. Common names include Borneo teak, Malacca teak and Moluccan ironwood. It is native to a wide area of tropical Asia including Bangladesh, Myanmar, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Intsia palembanica differs from Intsia bijuga in the number of leaflets that make up the compound leaves.

Other Intsia plants

Ifil · Intsia

[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 Intsia palembanica 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.

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