Malay lac Tree Seeds, Ceylon Oak (Schleichera oleosa)

Malay lac Tree Seeds, Ceylon Oak (Schleichera oleosa)

Price for Package of 2 seeds.

Malay lac tree is a rather slow-growing, briefly deciduous tree that can reach a height of 40 metres. The bole, which is usually crooked and slightly buttressed, can be up to 2 metres in diameter, but is usually less.

A multipurpose tree, supplying food, medicine and a range of commodities for local use. It is occasionally cultivated throughout the tropics, especially in India.

Schleichera oleosa is A medium-sized to large, deciduous or nearly evergreen tree, up to 20mt. in height and 2.4 - 3.7 m in girth, usually with clear bole of c. 6 m, found in the sub-Himalayan tract for Kashmir to West Bengal and in central and penisular India, up to an altitude of 900m, especially in the moist localities, also recorded from the Garo hills. 

A multipurpose tree, supplying food, medicine and a range of commodities for local use. It is occasionally cultivated throughout the tropics, especially in India.

It is often grown for cultivation of lac, for oil, and for ornament.  Bark grey or brown, reddish inside, exfoliating in small, round, irregular flakes c. 8 mm. thick, leaves paripinnate, 20 - 40 cm long; leaflets elliptic or elliptic-oblong, coriaceous, 5-25 cm x 3-10cm, 2-4 pairs, flowers minute, yellowish green, either male or bisexual, in axillary racemes.

Berries smooth or slightly prickly, globose or ovoid, hard-skinned, 1.25 - 2.5 cm, x 1.1-1.8cm, 1-2 seeded.

Seeds brown, irregularly ellipsoidal, 1.0 - 1.5cm x 0.8 - 1.25cm, slightly compressed, oily , enclosed in a succulent aril which dries up on the seed.

Cultivation Details

Plants succeed in tropical and subtropical areas, usually al low elevations but sometimes at up to 1,200 metres above sea level. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 30 - 42°c, but can tolerate 10 - 47°c. When dormant, the plant can survive temperatures down to about -4°c, but young growth can be severely damaged at -1°c. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 1,200 - 2,300mm, but tolerates 750 - 2,800mm.

Succeeds in full sun and also in light shade. Plants are tolerant of a range of soil types, so long as they are well drained, but grow best on deep, rich, acid soils that are rich in organic matter. It grows on rather dry to occasionally swampy locations on various, often rocky, gravelly or loamy, well drained, preferable slightly acid soil. Prefers a pH in the range 5.5 - 6.5, tolerating 5 - 7.8.

A fire-resistant tree.

Trees are dioecious. Male and female forms need to be grown if fruit and seeds are required.

Edible Uses

Young leaves and shoots - raw, cooked in soups or steamed and served with rice.

The ripe fruit is eaten raw. A pleasantly acid flavour. Unripe fruits are pickled. The fruit is a broadly ovoid, ellipsoid to subglobular berry 15 - 25mm x 10 - 20mm.

An oil obtained from the seed, called macassar oil, is sometimes used for culinary purposes. It contains cyanogenic compounds, which may cause giddiness and should be removed if the oil is used for human consumption.

Medicinal

Powdered seeds are applied to wounds and ulcers of cattle to remove maggots.

The bark is astringent and is used against leprotic ruptures, skin inflammations and ulcers, while an infusion is taken against malaria. The bark contains about 10% tannin and the analgesic compound lupeol. The antitumor agents betulin and betulic acid have also been isolated from it[.

In traditional medicine, the oil obtained from the seed is applied externally to cure itching, acne and other skin afflictions. Massaging the oil into the scalp is said to promote the growth of hair lost through baldness.

The pulp of the fruit is astringent and appetite inducing.

Other Uses

An oil extracted from the seed, called 'kusum oil', is a valuable component of true Macassar oil used in hairdressing. It is also used for lighting purposes. The oil is also used in the batik industry, and in southern India, as a cooling bath oil.

The oil content of the kernel varies from 59-72%. The oil is yellowish-brown and semi-solid and consists of oleic acid (52%), arachidic acid (20%), stearic acid (10%), gadoleic acid (9%).

The bark contains about 10% tannin and a dye.

The heartwood is reddish to pinkish-brown; it is clearly demarcated from the sapwood. The wood is very hard, very heavy, very strong. It is durable in water according to some reports, but not durable according to another. It cracks very easily during seasoning. It is difficult to work, being very hard to saw, though it can be planed to a very smooth surface which takes a high, lasting polish. An excellent wood for making pestles, cartwheels, axles, ploughs, tool handles and rollers of sugar mills and oil presses, it is also used in house construction, ship building and musical instruments.

The wood is suitable as firewood and makes excellent charcoal. The energy value of the wood is about 20 800 kJ/kg.