Barry Conn (NSW) & Kipiro Damas (LAE).
Copyright held by the authors, Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, and Papua New Guinea National Herbarium

Avicennia marina subsp. australasica (Walp.) J.Everett

Telopea Vol. 5: 628-629 (1994)

Other Literature: N.C. Duke, Australian Systematic Botany Vol. 4: 313-315 (1991) Fig. 7.

Field Characters: Small trees mostly 5-10(-23) m high, or shrub up to 2 m high. Bole cylindrical bole up to 35 cm diam.; straight; buttresses absent; spines absent; aerial roots absent; stilt roots absent. Bark pale brown, white, grey, or greyish green, rough or smooth, slightly fissured or slightly pustular; lenticels elongated vertically; subrhytidome green; bark thickness <25 mm thick; blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze pale yellow or white, markings absent, smooth; inner blaze pale yellow or white, markings absent, smooth; exudate absent. Terminal buds not enclosed by leaves; complex hairs absent; stinging hairs absent; mature twig without hairs.

Leaves: Spaced along branches <internodes readily visible>. Leaves opposite, simple; petiole present 7-11(-13) mm long, not winged or winged amplexicaule at base, attached to base of leaf blade <not peltate>, swollen <at tip, or base, or both> at base; lamina broadest at or near middle, 4.0-6.0 (-7.0) cm long, 1.5-3.0 (-4.0) cm wide; lamina symmetric, margin entire, not dissected or lobed, apex acuminate, obtuse, or sub acute, venation pinnate <secondary veins arising from the midrib along its length>, secondary veins open <spaced far apart to easily see tertiary veins>, not prominent, but visible, intramarginal veins absent; lower surface pale green, upper surface glossy green, hairs present, sparse finely pubescent on lower surface; oil dots absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence terminal <at branch ends> or axillary <from between a leaf and branch> in distal axils. Flowers on a branched axis; flowers bisexual, not stalked, with many planes of symmetry <actinomorphic>, 5.0-7.0 mm long, small (< or =10 mm diam.) 5-6 mm diam.; perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals, yellow or orange; inner perianth 4 (-6), some or partly joined lobes 2.5-4 mm long; stamens 4 (-6), filaments present, free of each other, joined to perianth <epipetalous/episepalous> ovary superior <seated above petals and sepals; hypogenous>, carpels joined (when more than one) <syncarpous>, locules 1; styles solitary <including joined together>, 1.

Fruits: Fruits arranged on branched axis. Fruit 15-20 (-26) mm long, 12.0-17.0 (-21.0) mm diam., fruit green or pale brown, not spiny, non-fleshy, simple, dehiscent, capsule. Seeds 1 (-2), not winged, as wide as long.

Distribution: Central, Milne Bay & Western.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

Notes: The seedling (radicle) of this species is 5-10(-16) mm long and is mostly glabrous with a dense hairy collar about 2 mm wide, with hairs straight or wavy.
Previously known as Avicennia marina var. resinifera but this name appears to have not been validly published (refer J. Everett (1994) Telopiea 5: 627-629. Previously placed in the Verbenaceae and more recently in its own family, the Avicenniaceae.