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Tou (tree)
Encyclopedia
Cordia subcordata is a species of flowering
tree
in the borage
family, Boraginaceae
, that is native to eastern Africa
, South Asia
, Southeast Asia
, northern Australia
and the Pacific Islands
. The plant is known by a variety of names including Mareer, Kerosene wood, Manjak, Snottygobbles, Glueberry, Narrow-leafed Bird Lime Tree, "Kanawa," Tou, and Kou.
s of C. subcordata are 2.5–4 cm (0.984251968503937–1.6 in) in diameter and form cymes or panicle
s. Petal
s are orange and the sepal
s are pale green. Blooming occurs throughout the year, but most flowers are produced in the spring.
year round. They are spherical, 2–3 cm (0.78740157480315–1.2 in) long, and woody when mature. Each fruit contains four or fewer seed
s that are 10–13 mm (0.393700787401575–0.511811023622047 in) long. The fruit are buoyant
and may be carried long distances
by ocean current
s.
s, found at elevations from sea level to 30 m (98.4 ft), but may grow at up to 150 m (492.1 ft). It grows in areas that receive 1000–4000 mm (39.4–157.5 in) of annual rainfall. C. subcordata prefers neutral to alkali
ne soil
s (pH
of 6.1 to 7.4), such as those originating from basalt
, limestone
, clay
, or sand
. Allowable soil texture
s include sand, sandy loam
, loam, sandy clay loam, sandy clay, clay loam, and clay.
s are edible and have been eaten
during famine
. C. subcordata burns readily, and this led to the nickname of Kerosene Tree in Papua New Guinea
. The wood of the tree has a specific gravity
of 0.45, is soft, durable, easily worked, and resistant to termite
s. In ancient Hawaii
kou wood was used to make umeke (bowls), utensils, and umeke lāau (large calabashes) because it did not impart a foul taste to food. Umeke lāau were 8–16 litres (2–4 gal) and used to store and ferment
poi
. The flower
s were used to make lei
, while a dye
for kapa
cloth and aho (fishing line
s) was derived from the leaves
.
Flowering plant
The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...
tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
in the borage
Borage
Borage, , also known as a starflower, is an annual herb originating in Syria, but naturalized throughout the Mediterranean region, as well as Asia Minor, Europe, North Africa, and South America. It grows to a height of , and is bristly or hairy all over the stems and leaves; the leaves are...
family, Boraginaceae
Boraginaceae
Boraginaceae, the Borage or Forget-me-not family, include a variety of shrubs, trees, and herbs, totaling about 2,000 species in 146 genera found worldwide.A number of familiar plants belong to this family....
, that is native to eastern Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
, Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
, northern Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and the Pacific Islands
Pacific Islands
The Pacific Islands comprise 20,000 to 30,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean. The islands are also sometimes collectively called Oceania, although Oceania is sometimes defined as also including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago....
. The plant is known by a variety of names including Mareer, Kerosene wood, Manjak, Snottygobbles, Glueberry, Narrow-leafed Bird Lime Tree, "Kanawa," Tou, and Kou.
Description
C. subcordata grows to 7–10 m (23–32.8 ft) at maturity, but may be as tall as 15 m (49.2 ft). It has ovate leaves that are 8–20 cm (3.1–7.9 in) and 5–13 cm (2–5.1 in) wide.Flowers
The tubular flowerFlower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s of C. subcordata are 2.5–4 cm (0.984251968503937–1.6 in) in diameter and form cymes or panicle
Panicle
A panicle is a compound raceme, a loose, much-branched indeterminate inflorescence with pedicellate flowers attached along the secondary branches; in other words, a branched cluster of flowers in which the branches are racemes....
s. Petal
Petal
Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They often are brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. Together, all of the petals of a flower are called a corolla. Petals are usually accompanied by another set of special leaves called sepals lying...
s are orange and the sepal
Sepal
A sepal is a part of the flower of angiosperms . Collectively the sepals form the calyx, which is the outermost whorl of parts that form a flower. Usually green, sepals have the typical function of protecting the petals when the flower is in bud...
s are pale green. Blooming occurs throughout the year, but most flowers are produced in the spring.
Fruit
C. subcordata produces fruitFruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
year round. They are spherical, 2–3 cm (0.78740157480315–1.2 in) long, and woody when mature. Each fruit contains four or fewer seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s that are 10–13 mm (0.393700787401575–0.511811023622047 in) long. The fruit are buoyant
Buoyancy
In physics, buoyancy is a force exerted by a fluid that opposes an object's weight. In a column of fluid, pressure increases with depth as a result of the weight of the overlying fluid. Thus a column of fluid, or an object submerged in the fluid, experiences greater pressure at the bottom of the...
and may be carried long distances
Drift seed
Drift seeds and drift fruits are seeds and fruits adapted for long distance dispersal by water. Most are produced by tropical trees, and they can be found on distant beaches after drifting thousands of miles through ocean currents...
by ocean current
Ocean current
An ocean current is a continuous, directed movement of ocean water generated by the forces acting upon this mean flow, such as breaking waves, wind, Coriolis effect, cabbeling, temperature and salinity differences and tides caused by the gravitational pull of the Moon and the Sun...
s.
Habitat
C. subcordata is a tree of the coastCoast
A coastline or seashore is the area where land meets the sea or ocean. A precise line that can be called a coastline cannot be determined due to the dynamic nature of tides. The term "coastal zone" can be used instead, which is a spatial zone where interaction of the sea and land processes occurs...
s, found at elevations from sea level to 30 m (98.4 ft), but may grow at up to 150 m (492.1 ft). It grows in areas that receive 1000–4000 mm (39.4–157.5 in) of annual rainfall. C. subcordata prefers neutral to alkali
Alkali
In chemistry, an alkali is a basic, ionic salt of an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal element. Some authors also define an alkali as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a soluble base has a pH greater than 7. The adjective alkaline is commonly used in English as a synonym for base,...
ne soil
Soil
Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...
s (pH
Soil pH
The soil pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity in soils. pH is defined as the negative logarithm of the activity of hydrogen ions in solution. It ranges from 0 to 14, with 7 being neutral. A pH below 7 is acidic and above 7 is basic. Soil pH is considered a master variable in soils as it...
of 6.1 to 7.4), such as those originating from basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
, limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
, clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
, or sand
Sand
Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...
. Allowable soil texture
Soil texture
Soil texture is a qualitative classification tool used in both the field and laboratory to determine classes for agricultural soils based on their physical texture. The classes are distinguished in the field by the 'textural feel' which can be further clarified by separating the relative...
s include sand, sandy loam
Loam
Loam is soil composed of sand, silt, and clay in relatively even concentration . Loam soils generally contain more nutrients and humus than sandy soils, have better infiltration and drainage than silty soils, and are easier to till than clay soils...
, loam, sandy clay loam, sandy clay, clay loam, and clay.
Uses
The seedSeed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s are edible and have been eaten
Famine food
A famine food or poverty food is any inexpensive or readily-available foodstuff used to nourish people in times of extreme poverty or starvation, as during a war or famine...
during famine
Famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
. C. subcordata burns readily, and this led to the nickname of Kerosene Tree in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
. The wood of the tree has a specific gravity
Specific gravity
Specific gravity is the ratio of the density of a substance to the density of a reference substance. Apparent specific gravity is the ratio of the weight of a volume of the substance to the weight of an equal volume of the reference substance. The reference substance is nearly always water for...
of 0.45, is soft, durable, easily worked, and resistant to termite
Termite
Termites are a group of eusocial insects that, until recently, were classified at the taxonomic rank of order Isoptera , but are now accepted as the epifamily Termitoidae, of the cockroach order Blattodea...
s. In ancient Hawaii
Ancient Hawaii
Ancient Hawaii refers to the period of Hawaiian human history preceding the unification of the Kingdom of Hawaii by Kamehameha the Great in 1810. After being first settled by Polynesian long-distance navigators sometime between AD 300–800, a unique culture developed. Diversified agroforestry and...
kou wood was used to make umeke (bowls), utensils, and umeke lāau (large calabashes) because it did not impart a foul taste to food. Umeke lāau were 8–16 litres (2–4 gal) and used to store and ferment
Fermentation (food)
Fermentation in food processing typically is the conversion of carbohydrates to alcohols and carbon dioxide or organic acids using yeasts, bacteria, or a combination thereof, under anaerobic conditions. Fermentation in simple terms is the chemical conversion of sugars into ethanol...
poi
Poi (food)
Poi is a Hawaiian word for the primary Polynesian staple food made from the corm of the taro plant . Poi is produced by mashing the cooked corm until it is a highly viscous fluid...
. The flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s were used to make lei
Lei (Hawaii)
Lei is a Hawaiian word for a garland or wreath. More loosely defined, a lei is any series of objects strung together with the intent to be worn. The most popular concept of a lei in Hawaiian culture is a wreath of flowers draped around the neck presented upon arriving or leaving as a symbol of...
, while a dye
Dye
A dye is a colored substance that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is being applied. The dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution, and requires a mordant to improve the fastness of the dye on the fiber....
for kapa
Kapa
Kapa is a fabric that was made by Native Hawaiians from the bast fibres of certain species of trees and shrubs in the orders Rosales and Malvales. It is similar to tapa found elsewhere in Polynesia but differs in the methods used in its creation...
cloth and aho (fishing line
Fishing line
A fishing line is a cord used or made for angling. Important parameters of a fishing line are its length, material, and weight...
s) was derived from the leaves
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
.