Skip to main content
A Singapore Government Agency Website How to identify
Official website links end with .gov.sg
Secure websites use HTTPS
Look for a lock () or https:// as an added precaution. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
Government officials will NEVER ask you to transfer money or disclose bank log-in details over a phone call.

Call the 24/7 ScamShield Helpline at 1799 if you are unsure if something is a scam. (opens in new tab)

Heritage Trees of Singapore
CentralSeraya2025

Seraya (HT 2025-331)

This Heritage Tree can be found in Singapore Botanic Gardens, Rainforest (near HT Jelawai Jaha).

Forest with white arrow pointing to a tree in the background with a man walking on a path and a signage in the foreground
Canopy of Heritage Tree as viewed from Bandstand (📷: Hazri Boey)

Heritage Tree Information

Reference ID
HT 2025-331

Scientific name: Rubroshorea curtisii subsp. curtisii
Family name: Dipterocarpaceae
Girth: 4.7 m @ 1.3 m height
Height: 35 m

Location
Singapore Botanic Gardens, Rainforest (near HT Jelawai Jaha) (View Map) (opens in new tab)

The Seraya is an evergreen emergent tree that can grow up to 70 m in height. The tree can be found on the hill dipterocarp forests and coastal hills across Peninsular Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra and Borneo. The Seraya belongs to the Red Meranti group—large, buttressed dipterocarp trees with distinctive red, pink, or orange-brown inner bark. Through taxonomic studies, species from this group (e.g. Shorea curtisii) were revised and assigned to the genus Rubroshorea. This species is currently classified as 'Endangered' in Singapore.

The tree has lanceolate leaves about 8 cm long, each with a short petiole of 1.5 cm. Its small, white, pinwheel-shaped flowers mature from white to yellow before developing into a winged fruit, which are nuts surrounded by three large outer and two small inner persistent calyx wings. Like other dipterocarps, Seraya exhibits masting behaviour, with entire populations flowering and fruiting simultaneously.  

The timber can be used for light to medium construction, carpentry, doors, window frames, utility flooring and boat building. 

This Heritage Tree is believed to be a long-standing resident that likely predates the Singapore Botanic Gardens' establishment in 1859. Standing in the Gardens' Rainforest, it has a girth of 4.7 m when measured in 2025, making it the largest specimen of Seraya outside Singapore's nature reserves. 

For more information on this species, please refer to NParks' Flora & Fauna Web profile. (opens in new tab)