Elaeocarpus stipularis

Latin Name: Elaeocarpus stipularis Blume;
Family Elaeocarpaceae
Vietnamese name: Côm lá kèm
Description: The tree of E. stipularis grows up to 40 m tall and is often low-branching. The outer bark is pale grey-brown and often lenticellate when mature, while the inner bark is red-brown, with cream sapwood. The plants are usually densely covered with short brown hairs. The palmate-shaped stipules are one of the key characters for the species, they are persistent, and like the leaves, often turn red when senescing. The petioles are short and usually not kneed. The simple leaves are spirally arranged along the twigs in a single plane rather than clustered at the ends of the branches as is the case in most Elaeocarpus species. The leaf blades are 7–13 x 3.5–6.5 cm, usually thin, often with a toothed margin and dry chartaceous, turning dull pale red to orange red when senescing. The racemose inflorescences grow up to 14 cm long and bear 20–40 flowers per inflorescence. Notably, E. stipularis var. brevipes (Merr.) Coode from Borneo is recorded to have as many as 90 flowers per inflorescence (Coode 2004). The whitish cream flowers have entire sepals, but the petals are much divided and finely fimbriate in the distal half. The yellow-orange disc is prominently 5-lobed. The stamens are numerous (25–30 per flower), with anthers that are not awned. The ovary has 3–5 locules, each with two ovules. The fruits are varied in shape and size. The seeds are enclosed within a hard, either smooth or shallowly sculptured stone, which develops from inner mesocarp.
Medicinal: None known
Other Uses:
The heartwood is light-yellowish white to pink-brown, it is not distinctly demarcated from the sapwood. The texture is moderately fine and even, with straight to shallowly interlocked grain. The wood is soft to moderately hard; light in weight to moderately heavy; weak; not very durable. It seasons fairly slowly with slight end and surface checking; shrinkage is fairly low. It is easy to resaw and cross-cut; planing is easy and leaves a moderately smooth finish; nailing properties are good. A general purpose wood, it is suitable for purposes such as general planking, shuttering, boxes, crates, wooden pallets, match splints, veneer and plywood