Dipterocarpaceae is a family of flowering plants with 22 genera of mainly lowland tropical forest trees. Their distribution is pantropical, from northern South America to Africa, the Seychelles, India, Indochina, Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines. The greatest diversity of Dipterocarpaceae occurs in Borneo.
The largest genera are Shorea (196 species), Hopea (104 species), Dipterocarpus (70 species), and Vatica (65 species). Many are large forest-emergent species, typically reaching heights of 40–70 m, some even over 80 m (in the genera Dryobalanops, and Shorea),
The species of this family are of major importance in the timber trade. Some species are now endangered as a result of overcutting, extensive illegal logging, and habitat conversion. They provide valuable woods, aromatic essential oils, balsam, and resins, and are a source for plywood.
Taxonomy
The family name comes from the type genus Dipterocarpus which is derived from Greek words di "two", pteron "wing", and karpós "fruit"; the words combined refer to the two-winged fruit available from trees of that genus, other related genera with winged fruits of more than two are included in the family as well.
Classification
The dipterocarp family is generally divided into two subfamilies: