Barry Conn (NSW) & Kipiro Damas (LAE).
Guide to trees of Papua New Guinea
Copyright held by the authors, National Herbarium of New South Wales, and Papua New Guinea National Herbarium

Cordia dichotoma G.Forst.

Florulae Insularum Australium Prodromus 18 (1786)

Other Literature: J.J. Havel, Forest Botany, Part 2 Botanical Taxonomy 277 (1975) Fig. 79.

Family: Boraginaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Minor hardwood

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (15-30 m high); Bole cylindrical (25-50 cm diam.); straight (mostly short, bole c. 10 m long); buttresses buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark grey, rough, fissured (strongly and ridged); less than 25 mm thick, 18.0-20.0; bark blaze with two layers; outer blaze white, pale yellow, or greyish green, markings absent, fibrous; inner blaze white or pale yellow, markings absent, fibrous; bark exudate (sap) present, colourless, not readily flowing (spotty), colour changing on exposure to air, to brown, sticky; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.

Indumentum: Stinging hairs absent.

Leaves: Leaves spaced along branches, spiral (leaves occurring singly at a node and arranged spirally up the branchlet), simple (a leaf composed of a single blade); petiole present, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade, not swollen; leaves broadest below middle, 8.0 cm, 5.0 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, sub acute or acuminate, venation pinnate or at base trinerved, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green, upper surface green; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence terminal, flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 5.0-6.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (c. 2 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth white; 5, some or partly joined (fprming a corolla tube); stamens 5, present, free of each other, joined to the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 2; styles free, 2.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis, fruit 10.0-12.0 mm long, brown, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, to about 5 mm long (5-6 mm long), not winged, narrow (longer than wide), seed 1-10 mm diam. (c. 2 mm diam.).

Distribution: West Sepik, East Sepik, Madang, Morobe, Western, Central, Northern, New Britain & Bougainville.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

.