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

Aglaia cucullata (Roxb.) Pellegr.

Flore Generale de l'Indo-Chine Vol. 1: 771 (1911)

Other Literature: C.M. Pannell, Flora Malesiana, Series 1 213-214 (1995)

Family: Meliaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Commercial hardwood Tradename: Amoora

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to 30 m high) or Small sub-canopy tree; Bole cylindrical (up to 100 cm diam.); straight (bole up to 10 m long); buttresses sometimes buttresses present or buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark green, grey, or brown, rough, scaly or flaky or slightly pustular, lenticels elongated vertically; Subrhytidome (under-bark) green; less than 25 mm thick (c. 8 mm thick), 10.0 (c.); bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; cinnamon-like; outer blaze red or brown, with stripes, fibrous; inner blaze red or brown, with stripes, fibrous; bark exudate (sap) present, white/milky, not readily flowing (spotty), colour not changing on exposure to air (becoming slightly cream-coloured), slightly sticky; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.

Indumentum: Complex hairs present, disk-shaped (peltate) (on branchlets, leaves, flowers and fruits); stinging hairs absent; mature twig indumentum (hairs) present, hairs dense.

Leaves: Leaves spaced along branches, spiral (leaves occurring singly at a node and arranged spirally up the branchlet), compound (a leaf made up from two or more leaflets); petiole present, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade, swollen (slightly at base); leaves pinnate (unbranched with more than three leaflets); petiolule swollen (throughout); rachis present, absent, absent; leaves with a terminal leaflet (the number of leaflets odd - imparipinnate), equally broad throughout much of length, 4.0-20.0 cm, 1.0-6.0 cm, leaflets opposite, symmetric, terminal developing leaflet buds straight; venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface green, upper surface green, indumentum (hairs) present, indumentum (hairs) sparse; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence terminal or axillary, flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers unisexual, unisexual with male and female flowers on different plants, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 2.0-3.5 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (2-3.5 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth white or yellow; 3, free or some or partly joined; stamens 6 (male flowers), present, joined (forming a staminal tube), free of the perianth; ovary superior (female flowers), carpels joined (when more than one), locules (2-) 3; styles absent or solitary (then very short), 0-1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis, fruit 60.0-70.0 mm long, yellow, not spiny (densely covered with red-brown peltate scales), non-fleshy (leathery), simple, indehiscent or slightly dehiscent, capsule; seeds 1-(0 or 1 seed per locule)-3, much more than 10 mm long (c. 50 mm long), not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed more than 10 mm diam. (c. 30 mm diam.).

Distribution: West Sepik, Madang, Morobe, Western, Milne Bay, Papuan Islands, New Britain & Bougainville.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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