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

Aceratium parvifolium Schltr.

Botanische Jahrbucher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie Vol. 54: 102 (1916)

Other Literature: M.J.E. Coode, Handbooks of the Flora of Papua New Guinea Vol. 2: 46-48 (1981) Fig. 13.

Family: Elaeocarpaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Non-timber species

Field Characters: Small sub-canopy tree (up to 17 m high); Bole cylindrical (up to c. 30 cm diam.); straight; buttresses buttresses present (sometimes buttresses up to 1 m high) or buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots sometimes stilt roots present or stilt roots absent; Bark grey or brown, rough, scaly or flaky; Subrhytidome (under-bark) yellow, green, or mottled; less than 25 mm thick; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze pale yellow or pale orange, markings absent; inner blaze pale yellow or pale orange, markings absent; bark exudate (sap) absent; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.

Indumentum: Complex hairs absent; stinging hairs absent; mature twig indumentum (hairs) present, hairs dense.

Leaves: Leaves spaced along branches, opposite (in pairs, opposite one another on the branchlet), simple (a leaf composed of a single blade); petiole present, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade, not swollen; leaves broadest at or near middle or broadest below middle, 4.0-6.0 cm, 1.0-2.0 cm; symmetric, serrate to dentate (toothed) (shortly), not dissected or lobed, acute and acuminate, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green (whitish with brown hairs) and green, upper surface green, indumentum (hairs) present, indumentum (hairs) dense to sparse; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, flowers on an unbranched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 13.0-15.0 (-20.0) mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth white to yellow (pale cream-coloured); 5, free; stamens 5, present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules (2-) 3 (-4); styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on unbranched axis, fruit 15.0-18.0 mm long, red, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, about 10 mm long, not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed 1-10 mm diam.

Distribution: West Sepik, Morobe, Western Highlands, Eastern Highlands, New Britain.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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Notes: Notes One collection from New Britain (P.F. Stevens and Y. Lelean LAE58733) has been here tentatively identified as belonging to this species.