Common name: Banuyo

Banuyo is a large, nitrogen-fixing timber and landscape tree originating in the Philippines, its native range extending from coastal to inland forests, from near sea level to 600 m (1,970 ft) elevation.

It is a fast-growing tree and may attain up to 50 m (165 ft) in height in native forests, with a trunk diameter of up to 1.8 m (6 ft) and large buttressed roots. However, it is more typically 20 to 30 m (65 to 98 ft) tall, with a straight, slender trunk supporting a compact dome-shaped crown. The bark is grey-brown, smooth when young, becoming cracked and flaking with age.

The leaves are large, drooping and twice-feathered, with each leaf divided into three to five branches and each branch with glossy green oblong leaflets arranged in pairs along the length. They remain on the tree throughout the year, punctuated by reddish new growth at the start of the rainy season.

The flowers are largish, with long creamy-white filaments. They are in erect clusters arising at the sides of the branches and bloom in the rainy season. Fertilised flowers develop into flat, straight or curved, brown, ribbed, finely haired seedpods enclosing flat oblong seed.

Use

Banuyo is widely planted as a shade and landscape tree in coastal regions in its native range because of its shapely form, eye-catching feathery foliage, and tolerance to poor soils, including thin, salty and limestone soils.

It produces a medium-weight wood, averaging about 550 kgs per cubic meter (34 lbs per cubic ft). The heartwood is light golden-brown to reddish-brown, lustrous and attractively figured.

The natural resistance of the wood to rot and decay is not well-researched. However, it is used mainly for interior work. Suggesting it has at best moderate natural resistance to attack from fungal disease and wood-boring insects. It is used for decorative veneer and high-grade interior work, including ship's cabins, interior joinery, furniture, cabinets, musical instruments, gunstocks and carvings.

Climate

Grows naturally in humid tropical coastal to mid-elevation climates, generally frost-free areas with annual lows of 19 to 25°C, annual highs of 27 to 35°C, annual rainfall of 1200 to 3500 mm, and a dry season of 5 months or less.

Growing

New plants are usually started from seed sown in a free-draining potting mix. Seedlings need shade and regular watering for about five to six months, or until they are around 40 to 50 cm (1.3 to 1.6 ft) tall.

Performs best on free-draining clay-loam, loam, sandy-loam and loamy-sand soils of a moderately acid to alkaline nature, generally with a pH of 5.5 to 8.0, and on sites with full to partial sun exposure. Being a nitrogen-fixing tree, it can grow on poor soils. Once established, it has good tolerance to soil-salt and limestone soil conditions.

Problem features

Banuyo is assessed as a low weed risk species for Hawaii by the Hawaii Pacific Weed Risk Assessment project (HPWRA).

Books

• Allen, O. N. & Allen, E. K. 1981, The Leguminosae : a source book of characteristics, uses, and nodulation, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, Wisconsin

• Barwick, M., et al. 2004, Tropical & subtropical trees : a worldwide encyclopaedic guide, Thames and Hudson, London

• Chudnoff, M. 1984, Tropical timbers of the world, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Washington, D.C.

• Reyes, G. 1992, Wood densities of tropical tree species, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Forest Experiment Station, New Orleans, Louisiana

• Scheffer, T. C & Morrell, J. J. 1998, Natural durability of wood : a worldwide checklist of species, Forest Research Laboratory, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon