Dipterocarpaceae is the most important timber family in the lowland forests of Malaysia. The family contains several genera, including Shorea, Dipterocarpus, Hopea and Vatica, with many species found in Malaysia. Shorea, the largest genus in the family, is divided into four sections (Shorea, Rubroshorea, Richetioides and Anthoshorea) that correspond to the four colour-based types of commercial timber, i.e., Balau, Red Meranti, Yellow Meranti and White Meranti.
Shorea lumutensis is one of the species in the Balau group and is locally known as “Balau Putih” in Peninsular Malaysia. “Putih” in Malay means white, referring to the undersurface colour of the leaves which appears bright whitish. Shorea lumutensis is endemic to Peninsular Malaysia and inhabits coastal hill dipterocarp forests in Perak above 100 m altitude. It is recorded from Segari Melintang Forest Reserve (FR), Lumut FR, Teluk Muroh FR, Sungai Pinang FR and South Pangkor FR (Yong et al., 2021).
Shorea lumutensis can be considered a medium- to large-sized tree, with some individuals having boles that exceed 50 cm in diameter at breast height (DBH). It has a short buttress with irregular, longitudinally fissured bark. One of the key characteristics for identifying this species is that the leaves are markedly glaucous on the undersurface. Also, the leaves are leathery, oblong-elliptic and have about 14 pairs of prominent nerves beneath. The flower is pale yellow and about 9 mm long. The fruits have three outer wings measuring 7 x 1.5 cm and two inner wings that can be up to 4 cm long.
According to the Malaysia Plant Red List (Yong et al., 2021), S. lumutensis is categorised as Critically Endangered. Habitat loss and land conversion are the main threats to this species. The Perak State Forestry Department has implemented in situ conservation measures by designating the population areas of S. lumutensis in the Segari Melintang FR and Sungai Pinang FR as a High Conservation Value Forests (HCVF). For ex situ conservation, the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) has gathered seeds to be sown in arboreta and botanical gardens. Hopefully, with these conservation efforts, S. lumutensis will continue to exist and avoid extinction in the future.
