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

Brachychiton carruthersii F.Muell.

Victorian Naturalist Vol. 3: 50 (1886)

Family: Malvaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Minor hardwood

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to 30 m high) or Small sub-canopy tree (up to 15 m high); Bole cylindrical (up to c. 75 cm diam.); straight (bole up to c. 20 m long); buttresses buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark green, rough or smooth, cracked or pustular, lenticels elongated laterally; Subrhytidome (under-bark) green; less than 25 mm thick (up to 10 mm thick), 10.0-15.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; unpleasant (turnip-like aroma); outer blaze white, markings absent, fibrous; inner blaze white, markings absent, fibrous; bark exudate (sap) absent; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.

Indumentum: Complex hairs present, star-like (stellate); stinging hairs absent; mature twig indumentum (hairs) present, hairs dense to sparse (with stellate hairs).

Leaves: Leaves spaced along branches, spiral (leaves occurring singly at a node and arranged spirally up the branchlet), simple (a leaf composed of a single blade); petiole present, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade, swollen; leaves broadest below middle, 15.0-22.0 cm, 14.0-24.0 cm; symmetric (cordate), entire, dissected or lobed, palmately lobed, sub acute, venation palmate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green, upper surface pale green, indumentum (hairs) present, indumentum (hairs) dense (with stellate hairs) or sparse; absent; domatia absent; stipules present, free, laterally placed, not encircling the twig, leafy, fringed, large, not persistent or persistent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers unisexual, unisexual with male and female flowers on the same plant, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 15.0-25.0 mm long, diameter large (more than10 mm diam.) (10-15 mm diam.); perianth present, with all sepals and/or petals (hence tepals) similar, inner perianth dull red, yellow (petal margin), or brown; 5, some or partly joined; stamens 5, absent, joined, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels separate (when more than one) (5), locules 5 (separate); styles short free, 5.

Fruits: Infrutescence arising from single point (appearing so because 5 separate fertilsed carpels of a single flower) or arranged on branched axis, fruit 180.0-200.0 (-225.0) mm long, 100.0 (c.) mm diam., brownish orange or brown (pale fawn-coloured), not spiny (slightly rough and hairy), non-fleshy, aggregate, dehiscent, follicle; seeds 100, about 10 mm long, not winged, narrow (longer than wide), seed 1-10 mm diam.

Distribution: Madang, Morobe (Cultivated), Central, Northern & Milne Bay.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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Notes: Notes The genus Brachychiton was previously classified in the family Sterculiaceae.