Garuga pacifica Burkill

A deciduous, small to medium-sized or occasionally fairly large tree up to 30(-40) m tall; bole usually straight, cylindrical, branchless for up to 12 m, up to 120(-225) cm in diameter, with buttresses up to 3 m high; bark surface with adhering scales, grey or grey-white, inner bark firmly fibrous, pink, with little clear, resinous exudate. Leaves arranged spirally, crowded at the apex of twigs, imparipinnate; stipules inserted on the petiole, caducous; leaflets 9-21(-31), subsessile, crenate-serrate; stipellae often present, caducous. Flowers in an axillary panicle, bisexual, 5-merous, with a cupular receptacle; sepals free; petals with inflexed tips; stamens 10, inserted on the margin of the receptacle; disk adnate to the receptacle, 10-lobed; ovary superior, 5-locular with 2 ovules in each cell, stigma lobed. Fruit a fleshy, blue drupe with 1-5 1-seeded pyrenes. Seedling with epigeal germination; cotyledons emergent, palmately 3- or 5-lobed; hypocotyl elongated; first 2 leaves opposite and with 3 leaflets, subsequent leaves arranged spirally and with increasing number of leaflets. G. floribunda has been divided into 2 varieties. Var. gamblei (King ex J.J. Smith) Kalkman (synonym: G. gamblei King ex J.J. Smith) occurs in continental South-East Asia, whereas var. floribunda is found from Peninsular Malaysia (rare) eastward towards Melanesia. In Malesian literature G. floribunda is commonly erroneously referred to as G. pinnata, which is a continental species.

Flowers appear before the new leaves. In general, flowering is at the end of the dry season or the beginning of the rainy season. In Java G. floribunda flowers in June-November and fruits in October-April; in Sulawesi it flowers in September and October; in the Philippines it flowers in March-June and fruits in March-October.

It is found on limestone hills, and grows on stony, sandy or clayey soils.

G. floribunda occurs in seasonal climates in primary and secondary, often periodically dry or very dry monsoon forest and thickets, and in lower montane rain forest. It is also found in coastal forest, teak forest. It is not fire-resistant and can tolerate a periodically high groundwater table.

G. floribunda can be propagated by seed.

There are 15 500-23 000 dry seeds/kg.

Shade or shelter: G. floribunda is occasionally planted as a shade tree.

Fodder: The leaves are used for fodder. Food: The fruit is edible. Medicine: A decoction of the bark has been given after childbirth. Tannin or dyestuff: A decoction of the leaves has been used to dye mats made from Corypha leaves black. Timber: The wood of G. floribunda is used for general construction, bridge building, posts, light duty flooring, furniture and cabinet work, interior trim, mouldings, shelving, skirting, sporting goods, agricultural implements, boxes and crates, carvings, toys and novelties, and turnery. It is also used for the production of veneer and plywood.