Canarium

For the snail genus, see Canarium (gastropod).

Canarium
Fruiting branch of the canarium nut Canarium harveyi
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Sapindales
Family:	Burseraceae
Genus:	Canarium L.
Species
About 100, see text

Canarium is a genus of about 100 species of tropical and subtropical trees, in the family Burseraceae. They grow naturally across tropical Africa, south and southeast Asia, Indochina, Malesia, Australia and western Pacific Islands; including from southern Nigeria east to Madagascar, Mauritius, Sri Lanka and India; from Burma, Malaysia and Thailand through the Malay Peninsula and Vietnam to south China, Taiwan and the Philippines; through Borneo, Indonesia, Timor and New Guinea, through to the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Palau.

They grow up to large evergreen trees of 40–50 m (130–160 ft) tall, and have alternately arranged, pinnate leaves.

Common names

The trees and their edible nuts have a large number of common names in their range. These include Pacific almond, canarium nut, pili nut, Java almond, Kenari nut, galip nut, nangai, and ngali.

Species

This species listing was sourced from The Plant List data aggregation website that takes in some inaccurate data. The brief species distribution information was sourced from Flora Malesiana, the Flora of China (series) and the Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants information system.

Canarium resinieferum seeds dispersed by hornbills in Pakke Tiger Reserve

• Canarium acutifolium (DC.) Merr. – New Guinea, Moluccas, Sulawesi, New Britain, New Ireland, Bougainville, Qld Australia
• Canarium album (Lour.) DC. – Taiwan, S China, Vietnam
• Canarium apertum H.J.Lam – Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Borneo
• Canarium asperum Benth. – New Guinea, Moluccas, Sulawesi, Philippines, Borneo, Java, Sumbawa, Sumba, Flores, Timor, Solomon Is.,
• Canarium australasicum (F.M.Bailey) Leenh. – Qld, NSW, Australia endemic
• Canarium australianum F.Muell. – New Guinea, Qld, NT, WA, Australia
• Canarium balansae Engl. – New Caledonia endemic
• Canarium balsamiferum Willd. – Moluccas, Sulawesi
• Canarium batjanense Leenh. –
• Canarium bengalense Roxb. – India, Burma, Laos, Thailand, S China
• Canarium caudatum King – Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Borneo
• Canarium cestracion Leenh. – E New Guinea
• Canarium chinare Grutt. & H.J.Lam – Solomon Is., Admiralty Is.
• Canarium cinereum Guillaumin –
• Canarium copaliferum A.Chev. –
• Canarium decumanum Gaertn. – E Borneo, Moluccas, New Guinea, Sulawesi
• Canarium denticulatum Blume – Andaman Is., Burma, Sumatra, Malay Penin., Java, Borneo, Philippines
• Canarium dichotomum (Blume) Miq. – Sumatra, Borneo
• Canarium divergens Engl. – Borneo
• Canarium engleri H.J.Lam –
• Canarium euphyllum Kurz –
• Canarium euryphyllum G.Perkins – Philippines
• Canarium fuscocalycinum Stapf ex Ridl. – Borneo
• Canarium gracile Engl. – Philippines
• Canarium grandifolium (Ridl.) H.J.Lam – Malay Peninsula
• Canarium harami Bojer –
• Canarium harveyi Seem. –
• Canarium hirsutum Willd. – New Guinea to throughout Malesia, Solomon Is., Palau
• Canarium indicum L. – New Guinea, New Britain, New Ireland, Solomon Is., Vanuatu, Moluccas, Sulawesi
• Canarium intermedium H.J.Lam – S Sumatra
• Canarium kaniense Lauterb. – New Guinea
• Canarium karoense H.J.Lam – N Sumatra
• Canarium kerrii Craib –
• Canarium kinabaluense Leenh. – N Borneo
• Canarium kipella (Blume) Miq. – W Java
• Canarium kostermansii Leenh. – Borneo
• Canarium lamii Leenh. – New Guinea
• Canarium latistipulatum Ridl. – Borneo
• Canarium liguliferum Leenh. –
• Canarium littorale Blume – Indo-China, Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Java, Borneo
• Canarium luzonicum (Blume) A.Gray – Philippines
• Canarium lyi C.D.Dai & Yakovlev –
• Canarium macadamii Leenh. – New Guinea
• Canarium madagascariense Engl. –
• Canarium maluense Lauterb. – Sulawesi, Moluccas, New Guinea, Borneo
• Canarium megacarpum Leenh. – New Guinea
• Canarium megalanthum Merr. – Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Borneo
• Canarium merrillii H.J.Lam – Borneo
• Canarium muelleri F.M.Bailey – Queensland endemic, Australia
• Canarium odontophyllum Miq. – Sumatra, Borneo, Philippines (Palawan)
• Canarium oleiferum Baill. – New Caledonia endemic
• Canarium oleosum (Lam.) Engl. – New Guinea, New Britain, Timor, Moluccas, Sulawesi
• Canarium ovatum Engl. – Philippines, cultivated Asia–Pacific
• Canarium paniculatum (Lam.) Benth. ex Engl. –
• Canarium parvum Leenh. – S China, Vietnam
• Canarium patentinervium Miq. – Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Banka, Borneo
• Canarium perlisanum Leenh. – Malay Peninsula (Perlis)
• Canarium pilososylvestre Leenh. – W New Guinea
• Canarium pilosum A.W.Benn. – Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Borneo
  • subsp. borneensis Leenh. – Borneo
• Canarium pimela K.D.Koenig – Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, S China
• Canarium polyphyllum K.Schum. – New Guinea
• Canarium pseudodecumanum Hochr. – Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Borneo
• Canarium pseudopatentinervium H.J.Lam – S Sumatra, Banka, Borneo
• Canarium pseudopimela Kochummen –
• Canarium pseudosumatranum Leenh. – Malay Peninsula
• Canarium reniforme Kochummen & Whitmore –
• Canarium resiniferum Bruce ex King –
• Canarium rigidum (Blume) Zipp. ex Miq. – New Guinea
• Canarium rotundifolium Guillaumin –
• Canarium sarawakanum Kochummen –
• Canarium schweinfurtii Engl. –
• Canarium sikkimense King –
• Canarium solomonense B.L.Burtt – New Guinea
• Canarium strictum Roxb. – India, Burma, S China
• Canarium subulatum Guillaumin – Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, S China
• Canarium sumatranum Boerl. & Koord. – Sumatra, Malay Peninsula
• Canarium sylvestre Gaertn. – New Guinea, Moluccas
• Canarium thorelianum Guillaumin –
• Canarium trifoliolatum Engl. – New Caledonia endemic
• Canarium trigonum H.J.Lam – Sulawesi
• Canarium vanikoroense Leenh. –
• Canarium venosum Craib –
• Canarium vitiense A.Gray – Fiji, Solomon Is., Samoa, Tonga, New Guinea, Bismarck Arch., Admiralty Is., Louisiade Arch., Torres Strait I's, Qld Australia
• Canarium vittatistipulatum Guillaumin –
• Canarium vrieseanum Engl. – Philippines, Sulawesi
• Canarium vulgare Leenh. – Flores, Timor, Sulawesi, Moluccas
• Canarium whitei Guillaumin – New Caledonia endemic
• Canarium zeylanicum (Retz.) Blume –

Uses and ecology

Several species have edible nuts, known as galip nut or nangae (C. indicum), pili nut (C. ovatum), or simply canarium nut (C. harveyi and C. indicum). C. indicum are among the most important nut-bearing trees in eastern Indonesia and the Southwest Pacific. C. ovatum is cultivated as a food crop only in the Philippines.

Canarium odontophyllum, known commonly as dabai or kembayau, is a species with a nutritious fruit with a creamy taste. It is hard when raw and may be pickled or softened with hot water when prepared. It is high in protein, antioxidants, and mineral nutrients. Many animals feed on the fruit in the wild, such as the red-bellied lemur (Eulemur rubriventer) and the ruffed lemurs (Varecia) of Madagascar's eastern rainforests.

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Canarium album fruit at a market in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Dammar resin from Canarium strictum

Canarium album produces a fruit consumed in Vietnam, Thailand (where it is known as nam liap (Thai: หนำเลี้ยบ), samo chin (Thai: สมอจีน) or kana (Thai: กาน้า)) and in China (Chinese olive) with an appearance of a big olive.

Canarium luzonicum, commonly known as elemi, is a tree native to the Philippines. An oleoresin, which contains Elemicin, is harvested from it.

Superb fruit-doves (Ptilinopus superbus) are known to be fond of the fruit of scrub turpentine (C. australianum), which they swallow whole.