Dillenia beccariana Seeds | Dillenia

Dillenia beccariana with a large white flower and boldly veined leaves on a Bornean forest tree — Dillenia (*Dillenia beccariana*): Dilleniaceae, a large-flowered Bornean tree of warm lowland forest.

LATIN NAME: Dillenia beccariana

COMMON NAME: Dillenia

Plant Profile

Dillenia beccariana is an evergreen tree of the Bornean lowlands, fifteen to twenty-five metres tall, with leaves that are deeply veined, slightly hairy beneath and arranged in a bold spiral. The flowers are the reason to grow it: wide, white, many-petalled and short-lived, opening at dawn and falling by afternoon. A single flower is gone by evening, but a tree in good condition produces them for weeks.

It grows in mixed dipterocarp forest on clay and sandy loam, in the humid, windless interior where rainfall is spread through the year. In common with others in the genus it holds its fruit upright, a heavy, greenish ball that splits into star-shaped segments as it ripens.

Science & Biotechnology

Dilleniaceae is an old family with a scattered distribution, and the genus Dillenia is centred on tropical Asia. The flowers have a peculiarity worth knowing: the stamens are numerous, curled inward in bud, and they uncoil as the flower opens, which is why the bloom appears to unfurl rather than simply expand.

Seed is small, dark and covered by a fleshy aril that draws birds, and gut passage is thought to improve germination. The wood anatomy, with its wide rays and scalariform perforations, marks the family as one of the more primitive among the eudicots, and it appears in most comparative textbooks.

Uses & Benefits

In Borneo the fruit is eaten by birds and, in some species of the genus, by people; the flesh is sour and used in cooking rather than dessert. The timber is hard and durable and is used locally for posts and tool handles.

As an ornamental it is grown in tropical botanical collections, where the sheer size of the flower justifies the space. It is also used in reforestation of degraded dipterocarp land, since it establishes in open conditions and tolerates poorer soil than the climax species. The wood also goes into plywood within its range, which is one more reason old trees are worth more cut than standing.

Growing from Seed

Clean the seed from the fruit as soon as it ripens, rub off the aril and sow in a light, free-draining mix at twenty-five to thirty degrees. Fresh seed comes up in three to six weeks; stored seed is unreliable, and germination drops sharply after a few months.

The seedling grows quickly in heat and humidity, and it needs a deep container within its first year. Give it bright light with some shade at midday, water generously but never let the mix stagnate, and plant out into deep, well-drained soil in a sheltered position. It is strictly tropical.

Our Take

A tree that gives one perfect flower a day rather than a season of them, and asks for tropical heat in return. Worth the space where the climate allows. In a conservatory it will flower within a few years, which is reward enough for the room it takes.

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