Canarium

Canarium is a genus of about 120 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, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Palau.

Canarium species grow up to large evergreen trees of 40 – tall, and have alternately arranged, pinnate leaves. They are dioecious, with male and female flowers growing on separate trees.

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
As of January 2024, Plants of the World Online accepts 121 species. The brief species distribution information was sourced from Flora Malesiana, the Flora of China (series), the Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants information system, and Plants of the World Online.


 * Canarium acutifolium – New Guinea, Maluku, Sulawesi, New Britain, New Ireland, Bougainville, Qld Australia
 * Canarium album Chinese white olive (橄欖) – Taiwan, S China, Vietnam
 * Canarium ampasindavae – Madagascar
 * Canarium apertum – Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Borneo
 * Canarium arcuatum – Madagascar
 * Canarium asperum – New Guinea, Maluku, Sulawesi, Philippines, Borneo, Java, Sumbawa, Sumba, Flores, Timor, Solomon Is.,
 * Canarium australasicum – Qld, NSW, Australia endemic
 * Canarium australianum – New Guinea, Qld, NT, WA, Australia
 * Canarium balansae – New Caledonia endemic
 * Canarium balsamiferum – Maluku, Sulawesi
 * Canarium batjanense – Maluku
 * Canarium bengalense – India, Burma, Laos, Thailand, S China
 * Canarium betamponae – Madagascar
 * Canarium boivinii – northeastern Madagascar
 * Canarium bullatum – northern and northeastern Madagascar
 * Canarium caudatum – Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Borneo
 * Canarium cestracion – E New Guinea
 * Canarium chinare – Solomon Is., Admiralty Is.
 * Canarium cinereum – Vietnam
 * Canarium compressum – Madagascar
 * Canarium copaliferum – Vietnam
 * Canarium decumanum – E Borneo, Maluku, New Guinea, Sulawesi
 * Canarium denticulatum – Andaman Is., Burma, Sumatra, Malay Penin., Java, Borneo, Philippines
 * Canarium dichotomum – Sumatra, Borneo
 * Canarium divergens – Borneo
 * Canarium egregium – Madagascar
 * Canarium elegans — Madagascar
 * Canarium engleri – Vietnam
 * Canarium euphyllum – Andaman Is.
 * Canarium euryphyllum – Philippines
 * Canarium ferrugineum – Madagascar
 * Canarium findens – Madagascar
 * Canarium fugax – Madagascar
 * Canarium fuscocalycinum – Borneo
 * Canarium galokense – Madagascar
 * Canarium globosum – Madagascar
 * Canarium gracile – Philippines
 * Canarium grandifolium – Malay Peninsula
 * Canarium harveyi – Fiji, Niue, Santa Cruz Islands, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna
 * Canarium hirsutum – New Guinea to throughout Malesia, Solomon Is., Palau
 * Canarium indicum – New Guinea, New Britain, New Ireland, Solomon Is., Vanuatu, Maluku, Sulawesi
 * Canarium indistinctum – Madagascar
 * Canarium intermedium – S Sumatra
 * Canarium kaniense – New Guinea
 * Canarium karoense – N Sumatra
 * Canarium kerrii – Thailand
 * Canarium kinabaluense – N Borneo
 * Canarium kipella – W Java
 * Canarium kostermansii – Borneo
 * Canarium lamianum – Madagascar
 * Canarium lamii – New Guinea
 * Canarium latistipulatum – Borneo
 * Canarium liguliferum – Solomon Islands (Rob Roy Island)
 * Canarium littorale – Indo-China, Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Java, Borneo
 * Canarium lobocarpum – Madagascar
 * Canarium longistipulatum – Madagascar
 * Canarium luzonicum – Philippines
 * Canarium lyi – Vietnam
 * Canarium macadamii – New Guinea
 * Canarium madagascariense – Madagascar (Nosy Bé)
 * Canarium maluense – Sulawesi, Maluku, New Guinea, Borneo
 * Canarium manii – Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Myanmar
 * Canarium manongarivum – Madagascar
 * Canarium megacarpum – New Guinea
 * Canarium megalanthum – Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Borneo
 * Canarium merrillii – Borneo
 * Canarium muelleri – Queensland endemic, Australia
 * Canarium multiflorum – Madagascar
 * Canarium multinerve – Madagascar
 * Canarium nitidifolium – Madagascar
 * Canarium obovatum – Madagascar
 * Canarium obtusifolium – eastern Madagascar
 * Canarium odontophyllum – Sumatra, Borneo, Philippines (Palawan)
 * Canarium oleiferum – New Caledonia endemic
 * Canarium oleosum – New Guinea, New Britain, Timor, Maluku, Sulawesi
 * Canarium ovatum – Philippines, cultivated Asia–Pacific
 * Canarium pallidum – Madagascar
 * Canarium paniculatum – Mauritius
 * Canarium parvum – S China, Vietnam
 * Canarium patentinervium – Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Banka, Borneo
 * Canarium perlisanum – Malay Peninsula (Perlis)
 * Canarium pilicarpum – northern and east-northeastern Madagascar
 * Canarium pilososylvestre – W New Guinea
 * Canarium pilosum – Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Borneo
 * subsp. borneensis – Borneo
 * Canarium pimela Chinese black olive (乌榄) – Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, S China
 * Canarium planifolium – Madagascar
 * Canarium polyphyllum – New Guinea
 * Canarium pseudodecumanum – Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Borneo
 * Canarium pseudopatentinervium – S Sumatra, Banka, Borneo
 * Canarium pseudopimela – Borneo (Sarawak)
 * Canarium pseudosumatranum – Malay Peninsula
 * Canarium pulchrebracteatum – eastern Madagascar
 * Canarium reniforme – Peninsular Malaysia
 * Canarium resiniferum – Assam and Bangladesh
 * Canarium rigidum – New Guinea
 * Canarium rotundifolium – Cambodia and Vietnam
 * Canarium salomonense – New Guinea and Solomon Islands
 * Canarium sarawakanum – Borneo (Sarawak)
 * Canarium schweinfurthii – African canarium; from Nigeria and Angola to Uganda
 * Canarium sikkimense – Sikkim
 * Canarium strictum – India, Burma, S China
 * Canarium subsidarium – Madagascar
 * Canarium subtile – Madagascar
 * Canarium subulatum – Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, S China
 * Canarium sumatranum – Sumatra, Malay Peninsula
 * Canarium sylvestre – New Guinea, Maluku
 * Canarium thorelianum – Cambodia and Vietnam
 * Canarium trifoliolatum – New Caledonia endemic
 * Canarium trigonum – Sulawesi
 * Canarium vanikoroense – Fiji, Santa Cruz Islands, Vanuatu, and Wallis and Futuna
 * Canarium velutinifolium – Madagascar
 * Canarium venosum – Thailand
 * Canarium vitiense – Fiji, Solomon Is., Samoa, Tonga, New Guinea, Bismarck Arch., Admiralty Is., Louisiade Arch., Torres Strait I's, Qld Australia
 * Canarium vittatistipulatum – Vietnam
 * Canarium vrieseanum – Philippines, Sulawesi
 * Canarium vulgare – Flores, Timor, Sulawesi, Maluku
 * Canarium whitei – New Caledonia endemic
 * Canarium zeylanicum – Sri Lanka

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.



C. 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. 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 tropical forests. Canarium fruit is also an important part of the diet of the aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascarensis).

Canarium album produces a fruit consumed in Vietnam, Thailand (where it is known as nam liap (หนำเลี้ยบ), samo chin (สมอจีน) or kana (กาน้า)) and in China (Chinese: 橄欖) 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.

Canarium strictum produces a resin called black dammar.

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