Native species. Listed as vulnerable in "Checklist of the Total Vascular Plant Flora of Singapore". Its wood can be harvested as light timber, known in India as Red Dhup. This genus includes a few kinds of large, buttressed forest-trees difficult to identify in the absence of the characteristic fruits. The pinnate leaves distinguish the genus from the Dipterocarps and from the Rengas-trees which have rather similar fruits. Deciduous tree which flowers before the leaves come out or with new leaves. P. insignis matures even its fruits while its crown is bare of leaves. Distribution: Andaman Islands, Thailand, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo

An entry taken from the Journal of Straits Branch Asiatic Society; 1900, page 68 - Parishia pubescens Hook. lil. A lofty tree, 150 ft tall, flowering before the leaves come out, flowers white, very rare, Dalvey Road. P. pubescens is reduced to P. insignis in Flora Malesiana.