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

Burckella obovata Pierre

Notes Botaniques Sapotacées 4 (1890)

Family: Sapotaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Occasional timber species

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to 30 m high) or Small sub-canopy tree (10-15 m high); Bole cylindrical (up to 85 cm diam.); straight (bole up to 12 m long); buttresses buttresses present or buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark pale brown, pale green, or grey, rough or almost smooth, slightly fissured, scaly or flaky, or pustular, lenticels elongated vertically; Subrhytidome (under-bark) pink; less than 25 mm thick, 10.0 (c.); bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze pale pink, sometimes markings absent or with stripes (red to amber-coloured), fibrous; inner blaze pale pink, rarely markings absent or with stripes (red to amber-coloured), fibrous; bark exudate (sap) present, white/milky, flowing, colour not changing on exposure to air, sticky; terminal buds enclosed by leaves.

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

Leaves: Leaves slightly spaced along branches or clustered at end of branches, spiral (leaves occurring singly at a node and arranged spirally up the branchlet) (internodes short so leaves often appearing pseudo-whorled), simple (a leaf composed of a single blade) (with milky white exudate when damaged); petiole present, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade, not swollen; leaves broadest above middle, 8.0-18.0 (-23.0) cm, 4.0-8.0 (-11.5) cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, rounded or acuminate (shortly), venation pinnate, secondary veins open, not prominent, but visible or prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green, upper surface pale green or green, indumentum (hairs) absent; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, flowers single, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, (8.0-) 12.0-15.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (6-7 mm diameter); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth red (calyx creamy green in colour); 5, some or partly joined; stamens 10, present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one); styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence single, fruit 11.0-20.0 mm long, 8.0-20.0 mm diam., brown, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, much more than 10 mm long (up to c. 70 mm long), not winged, narrow (longer than wide) (ellipsoid), seed more than 10 mm diam. (c. 30 mm diam.).

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

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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