ໝາກກະເບົາ / Chaulmoogra

Mak kabao is an evergreen tree 8-30 m high, with 50-cm buttresses at its base and a DBH of 60-120 cm. The grey bark is smooth, and the inner bark white-yellow. The twigs are hairy at the tips, while its leaves are leathery, 15-32 x 4-8 cm, and with a leafstalk that is 1.2-1.6 cm long. The inflorescences are short flat-topped clusters of four to nine densely haired flowers. These white-green flowers are 4 mm long and do not have a pleasant smell. Male and female flowers appear on different trees. The fruit stalks are brown and the hard grey-brown fruit  egg-shaped but irregular. It is 2.5-3 cm long, 2.5-10 cm wide, with a hairy but brittle skin. The greyish seeds are angled with blunt ends, oily, and dark brown,  measuring 3 x 1.5 cm. The fruit of these species has been used for centuries  in Southeast Asia. The Hydnocarpus kurzii var. conica Craib. is only known in Thailand.