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

Bischofia javanica Blume

Flora van Nederlandsch Indië 1 186 (1 826-1 827)

Family: Phyllanthaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Commercial hardwood Tradename: Java Cedar

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to 40 m high); Bole markedly fluted (45-100 cm diam.); crooked (bole 7-12 m long); buttresses buttresses present (slightly spurred); spines spines present or spines absent; on trunk (protruding from bark when broken); aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark dark brown, rough, scaly or flaky, peeling, or pustular, lenticels irregular; Subrhytidome (under-bark) brown; less than 25 mm thick; bark blaze consisting of one layer; strongly aromatic; resinous/linament-like or pleasant; outer blaze red, markings absent, granular with splinters; inner blaze red, markings absent, granular with splinters (corky); bark exudate (sap) present, red, flowing, colour not changing on exposure to air, not sticky; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.

Indumentum: Complex hairs absent; stinging hairs absent; 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, swollen; leaves with three leaflets (trifoliate); petiolule not swollen; leaves with a terminal leaflet (the number of leaflets odd - imparipinnate), broadest at or near middle or broadest below middle, 6.0-12.0 cm, (3.5-) 4.0-5.0 cm, leaflets opposite, symmetric, terminal developing leaflet buds straight; venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green, upper surface 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, 1.0 (c.) mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (c. 1.5 mm); perianth present, with all sepals and/or petals (hence tepals) similar, inner perianth yellow or green; 5, some or partly joined; stamens 5, absent, joined, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 3; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis, fruit 4.0-6.0 mm long, brownish green or red, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, berry; seeds 6, to about 5 mm long, not winged, broad (as wide as long) (flattened, c. 2 mm long), seed 1-10 mm diam. (c. 1 mm long).

Distribution: West Sepik, East Sepik, Madang, Morobe, Western Highlands, Eastern Highlands, Western, Gulf, Central, Northern, Milne Bay, Papuan Islands, New Britain, New Ireland, Manus & Bougainville.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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