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

Annesijoa novoguineensis Pax & K.Hoffm.

in Engler, H.G.A., Das Pflanzenreich Vol. 6: 9 (1919)

Family: Euphorbiaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Occasional timber species

Field Characters: Small sub-canopy tree (up to 25 m high); Bole cylindrical (20-50 cm diam.); straight (bole up to c. 15 m long); buttresses buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark brown, slightly rough or smooth, pustular, lenticels elongated laterally; Subrhytidome (under-bark) green or red; less than 25 mm thick, 6.0-8.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze white or yellow (pale straw-coloured), markings absent, fibrous; inner blaze white or yellow (pale straw-coloured), markings absent, fibrous; bark exudate (sap) present (appearing after several hours) or absent (by misinterpretation), red (reported from twigs) or colourless, not readily flowing (spotty), colour not changing on exposure to air, not sticky; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.

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

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, not swollen; leaves palmate (with more than three leaflets attached at one point to the stalk); petiolule not swollen; leaves broadest at or near middle or broadest below middle, 10.0-18.0 cm, 3.6-5.5 cm, leaflets arranged from one point, symmetric; venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface green, upper surface dull green, indumentum (hairs) absent; 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, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 6.0-8.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (c. 10 mm diameter); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth white; 4, free; stamens 100 (in male flowers), present, joined (variously to form a central column), free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 3; styles free, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis, fruit 20.0-25.0 mm long, 20.0 (c.) mm diam., dark brown, not spiny, fleshy, simple, dehiscent, capsule; seeds 3, about 10 mm long (8-10 mm long), not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed 1-10 mm diam. (c. 8 mm diam.).

Distribution: West Sepik, Morobe, Eastern Highlands, Western & Central.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details