Morphological Variation and Species Distribution of Baccaurea dulcis (Jack) Müll. Arg. in West Java, Indonesia

Abstract

Baccaurea dulcis is an underutilized plant, primarily grown for its fruit, distributed and cultivated only in Sumatra, Borneo and western part of Java Island, and its population is under threat. On the other hand, very few studies have been carried out of this species. The objective of this study was to estimate population distribution and ecology of Baccaurea dulcis in West Java, characterize plant morphological characters and correlate plant habitat of B. dulcis and the plant and fruit. In West Java B. dulcis is only distributed in the sub district Taman Sari of Bogor and sub district Cijeruk of Sukabumi. Even though the species in West Java has a restricted distribution, its morphological characters is quite varied, including size and nature of tree; color and texture of the bark; size and shape of leaves and fruits; color of fruit peel and pulp; and the size, shape and color of seeds. The species grow well in the low land (250 m -610 m above sea level) of tropical region at neutral soil pH of regosol or latosol soil type and smooth rather coarse soil texture at land slope from 0 % until 45 %. Using 32 variables of trunk, leaf, fruit and seed, all samples could be clustered into 6 groups with the proportion correct 0.903 and with specific fruit characters in each group. There were some significant positive and negative correlations found between habitat and fruit characters and among tree and fruit variables.