Canarium

Canarium is a genus of about 100 species of tropical and subtropical trees, in the family Burseraceae. They grow naturally across tropical Africa, south and southeast Asia, Indochina, Malesia, Australia and western Pacific Islands; including from southern Nigeria east to Madagascar, Mauritius, Sri Lanka and India; from Burma, Malaysia and Thailand through the Malay Peninsula and Vietnam to south China, Taiwan and the Philippines; through Borneo, Indonesia, Timor and New Guinea, through to the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Palau.
Canarium species grow up to large evergreen trees of tall, and have alternately arranged, pinnate leaves. They are dioecious, with male and female flowers growing on separate trees.
Common names
The trees and their edible nuts have a large number of common names in their range. These include Pacific almond, canarium nut, pili nut, Java almond, Kenari nut, galip nut, nangai, and ngali.
Species
This species listing was sourced from The Plant List data aggregation website that takes in some inaccurate data. The brief species distribution information was sourced from Flora Malesiana, the Flora of China (series) and the Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants information system.
Canarium acutifolium – New Guinea, Maluku, Sulawesi, New Britain, New Ireland, Bougainville, Qld Australia
Canarium album Chinese white olive (橄榄) – Taiwan, S China, Vietnam
Canarium apertum – Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Borneo
Canarium asperum – New Guinea, Maluku, Sulawesi, Philippines, Borneo, Java, Sumbawa, Sumba, Flores, Timor, Solomon Is.,
Canarium australasicum – Qld, NSW, Australia endemic
Canarium australianum – New Guinea, Qld, NT, WA, Australia
Canarium balansae – New Caledonia endemic
Canarium balsamiferum – Maluku, Sulawesi
Canarium batjanense –
Canarium bengalense – India, Burma, Laos, Thailand, S China
Canarium caudatum – Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Borneo
Canarium cestracion – E New Guinea
Canarium chinare – Solomon Is., Admiralty Is.
Canarium cinereum –
Canarium copaliferum –
Canarium decumanum – E Borneo, Maluku, New Guinea, Sulawesi
Canarium denticulatum – Andaman Is., Burma, Sumatra, Malay Penin., Java, Borneo, Philippines
Canarium dichotomum – Sumatra, Borneo
Canarium divergens – Borneo
Canarium elegans — Madagascar
Canarium engleri –
Canarium euphyllum – Andaman Is.
Canarium euryphyllum – Philippines
Canarium fuscocalycinum – Borneo
Canarium gracile – Philippines
Canarium grandifolium – Malay Peninsula
Canarium harami –
Canarium harveyi –
Canarium hirsutum – New Guinea to throughout Malesia, Solomon Is., Palau
Canarium indicum – New Guinea, New Britain, New Ireland, Solomon Is., Vanuatu, Maluku, Sulawesi
Canarium intermedium – S Sumatra
Canarium kaniense – New Guinea
Canarium karoense – N Sumatra
Canarium kerrii –
Canarium kinabaluense – N Borneo
Canarium kipella – W Java
Canarium kostermansii – Borneo
Canarium lamii – New Guinea
Canarium latistipulatum – Borneo
Canarium liguliferum –
Canarium littorale – Indo-China, Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Java, Borneo
Canarium luzonicum – Philippines
Canarium lyi –
Canarium macadamii – New Guinea
Canarium madagascariense –
Canarium maluense – Sulawesi, Maluku, New Guinea, Borneo
Canarium megacarpum – New Guinea
Canarium megalanthum – Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Borneo
Canarium merrillii – Borneo
Canarium muelleri – Queensland endemic, Australia
Canarium odontophyllum – Sumatra, Borneo, Philippines (Palawan)
Canarium oleiferum – New Caledonia endemic
Canarium oleosum – New Guinea, New Britain, Timor, Maluku, Sulawesi
Canarium ovatum – Philippines, cultivated Asia–Pacific
Canarium paniculatum –
Canarium parvum – S China, Vietnam
Canarium patentinervium – Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Banka, Borneo
Canarium perlisanum – Malay Peninsula (Perlis)
Canarium pilososylvestre – W New Guinea
Canarium pilosum – Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Borneo
subsp. borneensis – Borneo
Canarium pimela Chinese black olive (乌榄) – Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, S China
Canarium polyphyllum – New Guinea
Canarium pseudodecumanum – Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Borneo
Canarium pseudopatentinervium – S Sumatra, Banka, Borneo
Canarium pseudopimela –
Canarium pseudosumatranum – Malay Peninsula
Canarium reniforme –
Canarium resiniferum –
Canarium rigidum – New Guinea
Canarium rotundifolium –
Canarium sarawakanum –
Canarium schweinfurthii – African canarium; from Nigeria and Angola to Uganda
Canarium sikkimense –
Canarium solomonense – New Guinea
Canarium strictum – India, Burma, S China
Canarium subulatum – Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, S China
Canarium sumatranum – Sumatra, Malay Peninsula
Canarium sylvestre – New Guinea, Maluku
Canarium thorelianum –
Canarium trifoliolatum – New Caledonia endemic
Canarium trigonum – Sulawesi
Canarium vanikoroense –
Canarium venosum –
Canarium vitiense – Fiji, Solomon Is., Samoa, Tonga, New Guinea, Bismarck Arch., Admiralty Is., Louisiade Arch., Torres Strait I's, Qld Australia
Canarium vittatistipulatum –
Canarium vrieseanum – Philippines, Sulawesi
Canarium vulgare – Flores, Timor, Sulawesi, Maluku
Canarium whitei – New Caledonia endemic
Canarium zeylanicum –
Uses and ecology
Several species have edible nuts, known as galip nut or nangae (C. indicum), pili nut (C. ovatum), or simply canarium nut (C. harveyi and C. indicum). C. indicum are among the most important nut-bearing trees in eastern Indonesia and the Southwest Pacific. C. ovatum is cultivated as a food crop only in the Philippines.
C. odontophyllum, known commonly as dabai or kembayau, is a species with a nutritious fruit with a creamy taste. It is hard when raw and may be pickled or softened with hot water when prepared. Many animals feed on the fruit in the wild, such as the red-bellied lemur (Eulemur rubriventer) and the ruffed lemurs (Varecia) of Madagascar's eastern tropical forests. Canarium fruit is also an important part of the diet of the aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascarensis).
Canarium album produces a fruit consumed in Vietnam, Thailand (where it is known as nam liap, samo chin or kana) and in China (Chinese: 橄欖) with an appearance of a big olive.
Canarium luzonicum, commonly known as elemi, is a tree native to the Philippines. An oleoresin, which contains Elemicin, is harvested from it.
Canarium strictum produces a resin called black dammar.
Superb fruit-doves (Ptilinopus superbus) are known to be fond of the fruit of scrub turpentine (C. australianum), which they swallow whole.
References
External links
Burseraceae genera
Dioecious plants