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 pittosporoides Schltr.

Botanische Jahrbucher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie Vol. 54: 105 (1916) Fig. 2.

Other Literature: M.J.E. Coode, Handbooks of the Flora of Papua New Guinea Vol. 2: 48-49 (1981) Fig. 14.

Family: Elaeocarpaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Non-timber species

Field Characters: Small sub-canopy tree (up to 12 m high); Bole cylindrical; straight; buttresses buttresses present; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots 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, (8.0-) 11.0-18.0 cm, (5.0-) 7.0-10.0 cm; symmetric, crenate, not dissected or lobed, acuminate (often narrowly so), venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green or brown (slightly hairs brown), upper surface dull green, indumentum (hairs) present, indumentum (hairs) dense; absent; domatia absent; stipules present, free, laterally placed, not encircling the twig, hair-like, not fringed, small, not persistent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary or on the trunk or branches (by misinterpretation below leaves), flowers on an unbranched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 10.0-15.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (c. 5 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth purple or green; 5, free; stamens 18 (c.), present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 3-4; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on unbranched axis, fruit red, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1-2, about 10 mm long, not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed 1-10 mm diam.

Distribution: East Sepik, Morobe, Western Highlands, Eastern Highlands, Southern Highlands & Central.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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