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 subcuprea Merr. & L.M.Perry

Journal of the Arnold Arboretum Vol. 21: 324 (1940)

Other Literature: C.M. Pannell, Flora Malesiana, Series 1 241 (1995)

Family: Meliaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Occasional timber species

Field Characters: Large canopy tree; Bole cylindrical; straight; buttresses buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark grey, brown (pale patches), or black, slightly rough or smooth, scaly or flaky (sometimes irregular flakes); Subrhytidome (under-bark) green, pink, or mottled; less than 25 mm thick, 10.0-12.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze pale red or pale brown, markings absent; inner blaze pale red or pale brown, markings absent; bark exudate (sap) present, white/milky, not readily flowing (spotty), colour not changing on exposure to air, sticky; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.

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

Leaves: Leaves spaced along branches, opposite (in pairs, opposite one another on the branchlet), compound (a leaf made up from two or more leaflets); petiole present, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade, not swollen; leaves pinnate (unbranched with more than three leaflets); petiolule not swollen; rachis present, absent, absent; leaves with a terminal leaflet (the number of leaflets odd - imparipinnate), broadest above middle or broadest at or near middle, 5.0-24.0 cm, 2.5-8.0 cm, leaflets opposite, slightly symmetric, terminal developing leaflet buds straight; venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface brown or red (peltate scales), upper surface green, indumentum (hairs) present (peltate scales), indumentum (hairs) dense; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers unisexual, unisexual with male and female flowers on different plants, stalked (shortly), flowers with many planes of symmetry, 2.0-5.0 mm long; perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth white or pale yellow; 5, some or partly joined; stamens 5 (male flowers) (-10), present, joined (to form a staminal tube), free of the perianth; ovary superior (female flowers), carpels joined (when more than one), locules 2; styles absent.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis, fruit 25.0-27.0 mm long, brown, not spiny (sometimes with many wart-like bumps), non-fleshy, simple, indehiscent or slightly dehiscent, capsule; seeds 1-(0 or 1 seed per locule)-2, much more than 10 mm long (c. 20 mm long), not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed more than 10 mm diam. (12-15 mm diam.).

Distribution: Morobe or Papuan Islands.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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Notes: Notes Previously known as Aglaia versteeghii Merr. & L.M.Perry.