This is a an emergent tree: growing up to 60 m in height, it is able to rise above the rain-forest canopy. The species is endemic to the island of Borneo. The name of the family to which it belongs, Dipterocarpaceae, derives from the Greek words di (‘two’), pteron (‘wing’) and karpos (‘fruit’), although many species have a different number of wings. The wings – relatively small in Shorea fallax – facilitate wind dispersal of the seeds, enabling them to fall in a helicopter motion away from the parent tree. The Malay name, seraya duan kasar, translates as ‘the leaves are coarse’. The wood is traded as a commercial timber under the name meranti.