I live in Thailand and I noticed this tree being planted heavily throughout my region around 5 years ago. I have not been able to identify it from local nursery sources since they don't use botanical names for their plants, only common names in Thai. The tree is an broadleaf evergreen with a strongly horizontal branching pattern. The leaves are opposite, obovate about 2 to 4 inches long is a semi-whorled pattern. The tree is typcially seen as a standard with a height ranging 15 to 30 feet. It would make a suitable small street tree since the horizontal branching does not obstruct views of store frontages while producing a dense to medium dense shade. See my attached photos. Thank you for your assistance.
Dear saltcedar: Thank you very much. From my online research it appears to be Bucida spinosa (formerly Terminalia molineti) Spiny Black Olive. It's origin is in the Bahamas which likley accounts for its recent arrival here in S-E Asia. Although the photo on this website is not very striking, it is the best website I found describing its attributes: http://lyra.ifas.ufl.edu/TREESServlet?command=getFloridaTree&classoid=1113
The name I know for this tree that's become very popular in Thailand in the past 10 or so years is Terminalia ivorensis. As the name suggests, that species is of West African origin. I have never seen flowers on it.
OK, these are good posts. Thank you all for that. So now that we have some clues, I did some more internet searching and found that this very discussion already has been started by others. I don't think it is the Terminalia ivorenisis for a couple of reasons, the main one being that that tree is deciduous and second that the tree reaches massive proportions. I would like to suggest that the tree is Terminalia mantaly. The "Terminalia" genus has of course generated many species of trees with similar characteristics and that is what can be confusing when trying to pinpoint this exact species. I am leaning toward the discussion I found online below in a Thai Visa Forum. Anyone else care to weigh in?
Tropicalmike, you may well be right that the tree grown in Thailand is Terminalia mantaly, not T. ivorensis. Googling these names, it seems as though T. mantaly may have been widely cultivated in tropical Africa before being brought to South-east Asia. In Asia it may have become confused with the native W African T. ivorensis. We will need to investigate further. We have trees growing in my wife's land in Thailand and I would like to have it correctly identified.
Thanks Tony Rodd for your contribution to this discussion. You've got it right. The true species identification needs further investigation. Next time I'm golfing I'm going to take a better look at all the characteristics of the trees I've been seeing on almost every golf course I play. I'm afraid that what were going to find is that there has been so much cross-breeding between Terminalia species that we'll never really know the true species of the tree we're seeing here in Thailand. The first thing I'm going to do is check for thorns and therefore rule out that it's is not the Spiny Black Olive (Bucida spinosa; Bucida molinetii; Bucida berceras; Terminalia spinosa; Terminalia molinetii). I don't recall seeing any on my initial inspections. Part of the problem I'm having is that the trees I see are so young, I have no idea what the mature tree will look like and if the strongly horizontal branching will persist into old age. A lot of the photos of the Termianlia mantaly I see showing a tree with upper branching at a 45 degree angle. Now I am finding websites that say Terminalia mantaly is synonymous with Termianlia ivorensis. I'm afraid we're going to have to find some fruit to have any real evidence to work with. Ivorensis has winged seeds; mantaly seeds have no obvious wings. I hope this tree stays relatively small and doesn't get 46m (150 ft) tall as some website suggest. A lot of people that have planted this tree are going to be in for a shock. You may want save these links to help in identifcation of your trees. http://www.worldagroforestry.org/treedb2/AFTPDFS/Terminalia_mantaly.pdf http://www.worldagroforestry.org/treedb2/AFTPDFS/Terminalia_ivorensis.pdf
