Dyera costulata
Jelutong leaves have the “terminalia” charateristics and the leaves are whitish on the underparts.
Also known as jelutong paya.
Its cousin Dyera Costulata is found in the lowlands of Sarawak.
Its cousin Dyera Costulata is found in the lowlands of Sarawak.
When the Foochow Pioneers first arrived in Sibu in 1901, they looked around the swamps of Sibu and were quite disappointed.
They had imagined a flat land like that of Min River valley and not a tropical swamp with floods, with mosquitoes, snakes and lots of insects. It was really quite a daunting task to grow padi to fulfill their agreement with the Rajah, to create a rice bowl.
They looked around for other alternatives. Their first alternative was what they saw in the jelutong tree, its latex which the Ibans could trade with. And it was an export commodity which could give a fairly good income.
The latex of this jelutong is an important ingredient of chewing gum.
It was hard for my grandfather who was a very young man then to look for jelutong trees, identify them properly and make the cuts to tap the latex, following the example of the Ibans. He met snakes, he got lost and it was really hard work.
A few years later James Hoover imported rubber seedlings and Wong King Huo was the first Foochow man to grow rubber. After that more and more Foochows and my grandfather started to clear land and grow rubber. My grandfather's first rubber garden was in Sg. Merah with about 10 acres, which he cleared as a very young man.
Rubber bands in Foochow dialect is still LOTONG dai , from jelutong. In proper Chinese, rubber band is Xu Jiau dai.
They had imagined a flat land like that of Min River valley and not a tropical swamp with floods, with mosquitoes, snakes and lots of insects. It was really quite a daunting task to grow padi to fulfill their agreement with the Rajah, to create a rice bowl.
They looked around for other alternatives. Their first alternative was what they saw in the jelutong tree, its latex which the Ibans could trade with. And it was an export commodity which could give a fairly good income.
The latex of this jelutong is an important ingredient of chewing gum.
It was hard for my grandfather who was a very young man then to look for jelutong trees, identify them properly and make the cuts to tap the latex, following the example of the Ibans. He met snakes, he got lost and it was really hard work.
A few years later James Hoover imported rubber seedlings and Wong King Huo was the first Foochow man to grow rubber. After that more and more Foochows and my grandfather started to clear land and grow rubber. My grandfather's first rubber garden was in Sg. Merah with about 10 acres, which he cleared as a very young man.
Rubber bands in Foochow dialect is still LOTONG dai , from jelutong. In proper Chinese, rubber band is Xu Jiau dai.
Note : One of Sarawak’s earliest pieces of forestry legislation, the Forest Rules, regulated the method of tapping jelutong trees. The magnificent columnar jelutong tree can get as tall 60 metres and reach a diameter of two metres.
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