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

Calophyllum pauciflorum A.C.Sm.

Journal of the Arnold Arboretum Vol. 22: 341 (1941)

Other Literature: P.F. Stevens, Handbooks of the Flora of Papua New Guinea 92-95 (1995) Fig. 19.

Family: Clusiaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Major exportable hardwood

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to 36 m high) or Small sub-canopy tree; Bole cylindrical (up to c. 50 cm diam.); straight; buttresses buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark grey or brown (pale to dark brown), rough, scaly or flaky or fissured; Subrhytidome (under-bark) dark red; less than 25 mm thick, 12.0-15.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze red or brown, markings absent; inner blaze red or brown, markings absent; bark exudate (sap) present, yellow or orange (pale (golden-coloured), not readily flowing (spotty), colour not changing on exposure to air, sticky; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.

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

Leaves: Leaves spaced along branches, opposite (in pairs, opposite one another on the branchlet), simple (a leaf composed of a single blade); petiole present, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade, not swollen; leaves broadest above middle or broadest at or near middle, (2.0-) 2.5-5.5 (-9.5) cm, 0.9-2.5 (-4.0) cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, rounded or obtuse, venation pinnate, secondary veins closed, not prominent, but visible, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface dark green, upper surface green, indumentum (hairs) present, indumentum (hairs) sparse; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, flowers on an unbranched axis, cones absent; flowers unisexual, unisexual probably with male and female flowers on different plants, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 3.5-4.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (c. 3.5 mm diam.); perianth present, with all sepals and/or petals (hence tepals) similar, inner perianth white; 7-8, free; stamens 70-125, present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 1; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on unbranched axis, fruit 15.0-19.0 mm long, dark blue or brown (when dry), not spiny, non-fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, about 10 mm long, not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed 1-10 mm diam. (10-13 mm diam.).

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

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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Notes: Notes Often included in the family Guttiferae.