- Plants
- ›Vascular Plants
- ›flowering plants
- ›Dicots
- ›Gentians, Dogbanes, Madders, and Allies
- ›gentian family
- ›Potalieae
- ›Potaliinae
- ›Cyrtophyllum
Tembusu
Cyrtophyllum fragrans
The tembusu (, təm-BOO-soo or tem-BOO-soo), is a large evergreen tree in the family Gentianaceae, native to Southeast Asia (from Indo-China to New Guinea). It is the Malay name for Cyrtophyllum fragrans (synonym Fagraea fragrans). It is also known as ironwood.
Its trunk is dark brown, with deeply fissured bark, looking somewhat like a bittergourd. The tree grows in an irregular shape from 10 to 25 metres high, with light green oval-shaped leaves, and yellowish flowers with a distinct fragrance. The fruits of the tree are bitter tasting red berries, which are eaten by Pteropus fruit bats.
From the article Tembusu on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
At the table
The trunk of this tree can produce very hard wood that can be used to make chopping boards and floors. The wood can last over a hundred years, as it is not consumed by termites and weevils.
Wikipedia: “Uses”
In human culture
A distinctive and well-loved tembusu tree growing in the Singapore Botanic Gardens is pictured on the Singaporean five-dollar bill.
Wikipedia: “Cultural significance”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Cyrtophyllum fragrans in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 915467.