Koompassia excelsa: taxon details and analytics

Domain
Kingdom
Plantae
Phylum
Tracheophyta
Class
Magnoliopsida
Order
Fabales
Family
Fabaceae
Genus
Koompassia
Species
Koompassia excelsa
Scientific Name
Koompassia excelsa

Summary description from Wikipedia:

Koompassia excelsa

Koompassia excelsa (known as tualang in Peninsula Malaysia, tapang in Sarawak, mangaris in Sabah, and bangris in Kalimantan ) is an emergent tropical rainforest tree species in the family Fabaceae. It is found in Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand. It is one of the tallest tropical tree species: the tallest measured specimen is 85.8 m or 88 m(281 or 289 ft) tall.

These grow mostly in lowland rainforests where they tower over the canopy. Like most tall rainforest trees they have huge buttress roots to support their weight. This is because the majority of the nutrients in rainforest soil are very near the surface, making large spreading roots more effective than deep ones.

They grow branches above the canopy (around 30 m or 100 ft) and have slippery trunks which protect them from sun bears, making them in turn attractive to giant honey bees Apis dorsata which hang their huge combs from the branches. The bees also protect the trees from loggers, as the value of the honey is higher than that of the timber.

There is a long history in Borneo of the honey combs being collected by native climbers using bamboo ladders built into the trunk, and protected by smoke. This is reflected in the title of a book of 'Poems and Chants of Sarawak Dayaks'., which expands on the cultural significance of this tree which links the earth to the sky...

Logging tapang trees is a native taboo in parts of Sarawak, and only naturally fallen trees (due to storms) are used for timber.

...
 

Koompassia excelsa in languages:

Indonesian
Tualang

Images from inaturalist.org observations:

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Koompassia excelsa
©Caleb Catto, some rights reserved (CC-BY)
Koompassia excelsa
©Caleb Catto, some rights reserved (CC-BY)
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©chinotto_chena, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©R E Gray, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©R E Gray, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©R E Gray, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©R E Gray, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©Paul Prior, some rights reserved (CC-BY)
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©Desita Dyah D A Kusumaningrum, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©Desita Dyah D A Kusumaningrum, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©jasheridan, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©jasheridan, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©adeprasetyo, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©susanlappan, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©Ryne Rutherford, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©dhfischer, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©dhfischer, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©dhfischer, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©dhfischer, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©phygelius, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©phygelius, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©Yusran E. Ritonga, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
Koompassia excelsa
©Yusran E. Ritonga, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
Koompassia excelsa
©Yusran E. Ritonga, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
Koompassia excelsa
©CheongWeei Gan, some rights reserved (CC-BY)
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©Ted Weber, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
Koompassia excelsa
©Ted Weber, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©Yusran E. Ritonga, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©Allan Hopkins, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC-ND)
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©Vatcharavee Sriprasertsil, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
Koompassia excelsa
©Vatcharavee Sriprasertsil, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©SunGW, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©SunGW, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©SunGW, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©Dirk Mezger, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©Dirk Mezger, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©Dirk Mezger, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©ml_ls, some rights reserved (CC-BY)
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©ml_ls, some rights reserved (CC-BY)
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©Needhi K. Thangasamy, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©miftah_a, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©miftah_a, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©Samuel Lee, some rights reserved (CC-BY)
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©Samuel Lee, some rights reserved (CC-BY)
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©Jonathan Hiew, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC-SA)
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©Najihah Musa, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©QZ, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©Kinmatsu Lin, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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©Yu Ching Tam, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC-ND)
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©Andrew Mylwaganam, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
Koompassia excelsa
©Andrew Mylwaganam, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)