Morphophylogeny of Raru Producing Trees from Central

Tapanuli-North Sumatra

Arida Susilowati

1

, Deni Elfiati

1

, Henti Hendalastuti Rachmat

2

, Yosie Syadza Kusuma

1

and

Andri Saut Pranata Sihombing

1

Faculty of Forestry, Universitas Sumatera Utara. Jl. Tri Dharma Ujung No. 1, Kampus USU, Medan 20155, North

Sumatra, Indonesia.

2

Forest Research, Development and Innovation Agency Ministry of Environment and Forestry. Jl. GunungBatu No. 5. PO

Box 165, Bogor 16001, West Java, Indonesia. Tel.: +62-251-8633234; 7520067. Fax. +62-251-8638111

andrisiltor@gmail.com

Keywords: Raru, Morphology, Identification, Phylogeny.

Abstract: Raru is the name for bark that produced by several genus of Dipterocarpaceae such as Cotylelobium, Shorea

and Vatica. The raru bark known as important source for traditional medicine of diabetic and mixture of

bataknese alkoholic drink called "tuak" for increasing the fermentation rate. The lack of natural regeneration

and destructive illegal harvesting for wood and bark, decreased the population every year. Due to this

condition, since 1998 this species classified on endangered (EN) based on IUCN Redlist. Previous research

showed only one species was found in North Sumatra, but from local community information, there were

three local species can be found in Central Tapanuli, those were raru songal, raru dahanon and raru pulut.

The objective of our research were (1). To determine the morphological character of local raru species from

Central Tapanuli and (2). To determine phylogeny clustering based on morphological characters.

Morphological data was collected from direct observation and measurement of on vegetative part of raru

trees (stem, canopy, and leaf). Morphological characters were examined using descriptive analysis,

phenotypic variability using standard deviation, and cluster analyses. The result showed that there was a

difference between three raru species according to 32 observed characters including leaf, stem, bark, crown

type, wood and the rosin. Analysis and measurement both quantitative and qualitative characters clustered

raru into two groups. In which, raru songal separated with other species.

1 INTRODUCTION

Raru is the name for bark produced by several

genera of trees such as Cotylelobium, Shorea and

Vatica. Raru is distributed in several locations in

Indonesia, but only a few species can be found on

the island of Sumatra, especially North Sumatra.

Based on research conducted by Pasaribu (2007),

raru in North Sumatra was identified as

Cotylelobium melanoxylon. In North Sumatra, raru

is scattered distributed in several locations of natural

forests in Central Tapanuli, and Tanah Karo.

For local people in North Sumatra, the existence

of raru is related to the production of traditional

alcoholic beverages known as "tuak". Local people

believe raru as a flavor enhancer for tuak and its

bark may increases fermentation rate (Pasaribu &

Setyawati, 2011). Besides being used as a mixture of

tuak, raru is also used as a traditional medicine for

the treatment of diabetes, malaria and stomach

(Sorianegeara & Lemmens 1994; Idramsa et al.

2016). The barks of raru contain several compounds

such as ampelopsin F., isoampelopsin F, ε-viniferin,

vaticanol A, E, G, and lyoniresinol that are useful as

antidiabetic medicines (Matsuda et al. 2009).

Although it has big potential as the source for

medicinal raw material, the presence of raru in

natural forests is also constrained due to low natural

regeneration and destructive bark harvesting

techniques. Destructive harvesting have been

practicing in local people when they usually cut

down the trees for tree bark harvesting. The timber

considered as a residue and used for construction.

The potential threat of raru has also been sounded by

IUCN 1998 (Ashton 1998) with endangered status,

Susilowati, A., Elﬁati, D., Rachmat, H., Kusuma, Y. and Sihombing, A.

Morphophylogeny of Raru Producing Trees from Central Tapanuli-North Sumatra.

DOI: 10.5220/0008554103390346

In Proceedings of the International Conference on Natural Resources and Technology (ICONART 2019), pages 339-346

ISBN: 978-989-758-404-6

Copyright

c

339

meaning that there is a need for concrete effort to

protected this species from extinction.

The results of our survey and interviews with the

local community found that traditionally, local

community identified three local raru species in the

Central Tapanuli natural forest, namely raru

dahanon, raru pulut and raru songal. Among them,

raru dahanon is more preferred to be harvested by

the community because it is believed to have the

best quality. Even though there has been ambiguity

in species classification and identification,

information about the morphological characters of

raru is currently still very limited. In other hand,

morphological identification is an early taxonomic

identification step to obtain basic scientific

information for conservation efforts. Moreover, the

preference for certain species of raru has caused the

population to decline, it is feared that this condition

will trigger a decrease in genetic potential. Based on

these considerations, this research were conducted

to determined the morphological character of local

raru species from Central Tapanuli and phylogeny

clustering based on morphological characters as a

baseline data for further conservation effort of raru

species in North Sumatra.

2 MATERIALS AND METHOD

2.1 Study Area

The research was conducted at Central Tapanuli

district of North Sumatra (Figure 1). Bona Lumban

forest known as one of raru bark producer in North

Sumatra. Based on local people information,

everyday kilo's of raru bark sold to other district for

tuak mixture. Bona Lumban is a village located in

Tukka District, Central Tapanuli Regency that

covers area of 6,80 km

2

(BPS, 2016). Tapanuli

Tengah Regency has the average temperature of

26,4

0

C, with the highest may reach to 32,2

0

C, while

its lowest temperature is around 22,4

0

C. The

average of relative humidity is 82,50% and rainfall

at around 12 mm/year. Forest in Bona Lumban

village are located in two type land status, there are

Protection Forest (Hutan Lindung/HL) and Area for

Other Uses (Area Penggunaan Lain/APL).

Figure 1: Location of Bona Lumban sub-district, Central Tapanuli district the sampling sites of Raru.

2.2 Procedure

Direct observation method using generative and

vegetative morphological characterization

measurements were used in this research. The

vegetative character observation and measurement

were done to habitus, stem, canopy, and leaf. The

generative character observation was done to

ICONART 2019 - International Conference on Natural Resources and Technology

340

canopy, leaves, stems. We also observed the rosin

character. The species studied were local raru

namely raru pulut, raru songal and raru dahanon.

Identification and determination referred to

Tjitrosoepomo (1990). The tools used for

observation were a magnifier, razor blade, tweezers

knife, plant scissor, plastic bag, stationary, ruler and

a book titled Munsell Colour for Plant Tissue for

color identification.

2.3 Data Analysis

Living plant speciments were taken from vegetative

(roots, stems, leaves) organs. Direct observation and

measurement were conducted into detailed specific

part of the speciment. The quantitative and

qualitative data of morphological characters

observed were transformed into binary score data

and formed into data matrix using Microsoft Excel

program. The data matrix was used to analyze

sample clustering based on SAHN (Sequential

Agglomerative Hirearchical and Nested Clustering)

using UPGMA (Unweighted Pair Group Method

Using Average) method with NTSYS PC program to

obtain phylogenetic dendrogram. The results were

compared descriptively.

3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Morphological Description

The material of morphological identification of this

research was originated from vegetative organ due to

the limitation of generative organ speciement.

Vegetative organ was less considered for

taxonomical identification compared to flower

character (Cronquist, 1968). But the vegetative

speciment also have been used for morphological

identification by previous researcher like leaf

thickness and midvein morphology and plant habit.

In this research, the crown, leaf, stem (vegetative

organ) and rosin character were used for

differentiate local raru species.

3.1.1 Crown

The tree crown composed by some structural organ,

determining the magnitude of light capture (Sterck et

al. 2001) and ability to shade the neighboring trees

(Lang et al. 2010). The shape of a tree crown

depends on the features of stems, namely the angle

at which they ramify from the main trunk and their

length (Tomlinson et al 2014), as well as the

thickness of particular branches and twigs, that is

corresponding with stiffness. Crown characteristics

develop and change during ontogeny by the

structural response of each species to different

environments (Valladares and Niinemets 2007)

Raru is a large tree, spreading and evergreen tree.

The observation of three local raru leaf shows that

there are several characters that have similarities and

some characters that can be used as differentiators of

raru species (Table 1).

Table 1: Canopy character of raru songal, raru dahanon,

and raru pulut.

Character

R.Songal

R. dahanon

R. pulut

a. Canopy shape

Rounded

b. Canopy width

8.40 m

5.58 m

5.30 m

c. Canopy height

14.60 m

12.80 m

13.40 m

All three of local raru have rounded crown

(globase) shape with variations in size and height

and light branching. The canopy of raru songal

tended to be wider (8.4 m) and also the heighest

compared to pulut and dahanon. Large crown up to

10 m in diameter (Figure 2).

3.1.2 Stem

Raru have straight and cylindrical stem with

monopodial branching architecture with spreading

branches that have orthotropic branching type and

continuous stem character. Raru songal was 40.8 m

in height with bole brancheless was 26.2 m, higher

than raru dahanon and raru pulut (Table 2).

The bark was chapped and rough for raru songal

and smooth for the other with the thickness varied

between 0.3-0.7 cm. The outer bark of raru dahanon

and pulut have have pinkish white color (7.5 YR

8/2) and technically easier for debarking compared

to songal, raru songal has a very light shade of

brown (7.5 YR 9/2) color and rather difficult for

debarked (Figure 3). On the other hand, the inner

bark color raru songal has a light shade of orange

(7.5 YR 8/4), raru dahanon has medium light shade

of orange (7.5 YR 7/6), while raru pulut has

medium light shade of brown (7.5 YR 8/6).

Raru songal showed 7.5 YR 8/8 wood color,

while raru dahanon and raru pulut has pinkish wood

color (7.5 YR 8/4). Interview with local community

found out that the wood can be widely used as raw

materials for construction, barn or coop building.

Concerning its wider used, raru have been known to

have good quality timber by local community.

Martawijaya et al. (1989) stated that raru or giam

(Cotylelobium melanoxylon) have high wood density

Morphophylogeny of Raru Producing Trees from Central Tapanuli-North Sumatra

341

(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure 2: Canopies of Raru (a) Raru songal, (b) raru dahanon, (c) raru pulut.

class which is varied between 0.83-1.15. Raru

timber has also high durability and strengh those can

be used for houses, especially for house pole and

foundation. According to Muslich (2006) C.

Melanoxylon ‘s timber is grouped into class II of

hardness category. Information on wood quality of

three local raru in North Sumatra still limited, so

further research still need to support comprehensive

data. But based on morphological feature of wood,

raru songal have high similarity with C.

melanoxylon description according to Pasaribu

(2010).

Table 2: Stem characters of raru songal, raru dahanon, and

raru pulut.

Character

R. songal

R. dahanon

R. pulut

Stem shape

cylindrical

Outer bark color

7,5 YR 9/2

7,5 YR 8/2

Inner bark color

7,5 YR 8/4

7,5 YR 7/6

7,5 YR 8/6

Bark thickness

0.7

0.3

Branch

architecture

monopodial

Branch structure

orthotropic

Stem character

continuous

Bole branchless

26.2

17.7

18.4

Tree height

40.8

30.5

31.8

Diameter (cm)

31.92

18.32

19.7

Wood color

7.5 YR 8/8

7.5 YR 8/4

Bark rough

rough

smooth

3.1.3 Leaves

Leaf physiological and morphological traits are

known to reflect the strategies of both resource

uptake and resource use eficiency (Reich et al.

1999), and thus, these traits are expected to impact

plant growth rates. The leaves morphology also has

been used to differentiate and compare tropical rain

forests species (Bongers and Popma, 1990; Medina

et al., 1990). Foliar venation patterns, although very

important for the taxonomic and phylogenetic

considerations, have largely remained neglected.

Raru had simple leaf in alternate arrangement,

31-46 pinnate laminas, grablous leaf surface. The

leaf had entire margin, acuminate tip and obtuse-

acute base. Young leaves, twig, outer stipules, bud

and raceme densely shortly powdery grey

tomentose, fugaceous on leaf and midrib, so on

twigs, persistent on racemes. Leaves 5-10 by 2-6 cm,

eliptical-lanceolate. Stipules to 3 mm long, small,

linear, caducous.

Raru dahanon and raru pulut have a lanceolate

leaf shape, it is contrast to raru songal which has an

elliptical leaf shape. Raru dahanon and raru pulut

have the same leaf color as on the upper surface

spesifically dark yellow green color (5GY 4/4) and

the lower surface color is olive green (5GY 4/4)

while the upper surface color of raru songal is green

(3/3) and the lower surface of Raru songal is dark

olive green (GY 3/4). Based on the leaf character,

raru dahanon and pulut have similarity with C.

lanceolatum.

ICONART 2019 - International Conference on Natural Resources and Technology

342

(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure 3: Stems of Raru (a) Raru songal, (b) raru dahanon, (c) raru pulut.

(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure 4: Raru Barks (a) Raru songal, (b) raru dahanon, (c) raru pulut.

Table 3: Leaves characters of raru songal, raru dahanon, and raru pulut.

Character

R. songal

R. dahanon

R. pulut

Leaf shape

Elliptical

Lanceolate

Leaf margin

Entire

Leaf tip shape

Acuminate

Leaf base shape

Acute

Obtuse

Leaf area (cm

2

)

51.55

44.6

38.4

Lamina length (cm)

13.38

15.26

15.5

Number of lamina

31

46

43

Upper surface color

5GY 3/3

5GY 3/6

Lower surface color

5GY ¾

5GY 4/4

Leaf arrangement

Alternate

Veination

Pinnate

Leaf surface

Grablous

Leaf composition

Simple

Leaf bud

naked bud

Morphophylogeny of Raru Producing Trees from Central Tapanuli-North Sumatra

343

(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure 5: Leaves of Raru (a) Raru songal, (b) raru dahanon, (c) raru pulut.

3.1.4 Rosin

Rosin can be used to distinguish different raru

species in North Sumatra. Our observation of rosin

characteristics showed that raru songal had different

scent and rosin type compared to others (Table 4).

The rosin of raru dahanon and pulut were hard,

while songal was soft.

Table 4: Leaves characters of raru songal, raru dahanon,

and raru pulut.

Character

R. songal

R. Dahanon

R. pulut

rosin color

N1

9/3

rosin scent

aromatic

-

rosin type

soft

hard

hard-

rosin flow

clot

Wilujeng and Sambiak (2015) stated that

'melanoxylon' refers to the heartwood character

melaanos which means ‘black’ and xylon which

means ‘wood’. It has the similarity character to raru

songal from in North Sumatra which has dark wood

color and black rosin (N1). Raru has blackish brown

wood color with are heavy weight, hardness, and

resistant to termite attacks and decay (Yoza, 2015).

Raru dahanon dan raru pulut have very pale yellow

rosin color (2.5 Y 9/3). In accordance with the

statement of Thomas (2010), C. lanceolatum has

yellowish clear rosin, and it became agarwood resin-

like when dried up.

3.2 Phylogeny based Morphological

Characters

Although other important non-genetic processes (i.e.

habitat fragmentation, pollution), genetic factors

(i.e. mutation, linkage, inbreeding) also can

contribute to species extinction (Loewe and Hill,

2010). That's why a better understanding of plant

genetic diversity was very important for Raru as

endangered species, to protected this species from

extinction.

Determination of the dendogram of kinship

between raru pulut, raru songal and raru dahanon by

using disimilarity index based on morphological

characters indicates that, the highest genetic distance

(1.1331) was showed between population 1 and 2; 1

and 3, while the lowest genetic distance (0.2274)

was showed between population 2 and 3 (Table 5).

Raru dahanon and raru songal have a fairly small

genetic. distance, then followed by raru songal

which have different populations.

Table 5: Nei’s (1973) genetic identity and genetic distance

of 3 populations of Raru.

Populasi

1

2

3

1

*

0.3220

2

1.1331

*

0.7966

3

1.1331

0.2274

*

Dendrogram kinship between raru species was

found that raru dahanon and raru pulut in one small

group with a genetic distance of 0.20, then joined

with raru songal in a larger group with a coefficient

of 0.93. Dendrogram result showed a specific cluster

in population groups, and show similarities between

populations. Cluster analysis of kinship coefficient

reveals the population structure and provides better

insight in plant breeding in terms of genetic

variation. According to Govindaraj et al. (2015),

Diversity in plant genetic resources provides

opportunity for plant breeders to develop new and

improved cultivars with desirable characteristics.

ICONART 2019 - International Conference on Natural Resources and Technology

344

(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure 6: Rosin of Raru (a) Raru songal, (b) raru dahanon, (c) raru pulut.

Figure 7: Dendrogram 3 populations of Raru from North Sumatera based on Nei’s genetic distance.

Raru dahanon and raru pulut have very high

similarities to morphological characteristics. Only

several of morphological characteristic were

different between raru dahanon and raru pulut such

as, inner and outer bark color, and several

morphological measurements such as leaf size, tree

height, diameter, branch-free height, and number of

lamina. It is suspected that raru pulut dan raru

dahanon were the same species with a little different

morphology. Plant growth and development

influence by environmental factors that can cause

anatomical modification and plant morphology.

According to Falconer (1960) the diversity of

appearance seen from a plant (phenotype) is a result

of a combination of diversity due to influence of

genetics and environment.

4 CONCLUSIONS

Our reserch point out that morphological character

can be used for determined raru species in Central

Tapanuli. Raru pulut, dahanon and songal can be

determined by using leaf shape, wood colour and

rosin character. Raru songal have higher

dissimilarity character compared to dahanon and

pulut.

Raru dahanon and raru pulut joined into a small

group with a coefficient of 0.20, then formed a large

group with raru songal and had a coefficient of 0.93.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This research was supported by Ministry of

Research, Technology and Higher Education

through scheme Penelitian Dasar Unggulan

Perguruan Tinggi (PDUPT) grant number

130/UN5.2.3.1/PPM/KP-DRPM/2018. Many

sincerely goes to local farmer in Bona Lumban for

field assistance for this research.

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