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

Campnosperma brevipetiolatum Volkens

Botanische Jahrbucher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie Vol. 31: 466 (1902)

Other Literature: Ding Hou, Flora Malesiana, Series 1, 530 (1978) Fig. 59.

Family: Anacardiaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Commercial hardwood

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to 50 m high); Bole cylindrical (up to 120 cm diam., rarely to 220 cm); straight; buttresses buttresses present or buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark white (cream-coloured), grey, or brown (pale in old trees), rough or slightly smooth, scaly or flaky (sometimes in large trees), fissured (slightly (rarely), or pustular, lenticels rounded/swelling; Subrhytidome (under-bark) red or brown; less than 25 mm thick, 10.0-16.0; bark blaze with two layers; strongly aromatic; pleasant; outer blaze pink or slightly red, markings absent, granular without splinters; inner blaze slightly red or pale brown, markings absent, fibrous; bark exudate (sap) present, slightly white/milky, flowing, 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) absent.

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 absent (lamina extending to base) or present, winged (to base (lamina decurrent), attached to base of leaf blade, not swollen; leaves broadest above middle, 14.0-56.0 (-73.0) cm, 10.0-18.0 (-27.0) cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, emarginate or retuse, obtuse, or acuminate (shortly (sometimes), venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface green, upper surface green (glossy), indumentum (hairs) present, indumentum (hairs) dense; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers unisexual or rarely bisexual, unisexual with male and female flowers on the same plant, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 1.0-1.5 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth white (cream-coloured) or yellow; 3-4 (-5), free; stamens 6-(absent in female flowers)-8 (-10), present, free of each other, free of the perianth or partly joined to the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 2; styles absent.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis, fruit 5.0-7.0 mm long, red or purplish black, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, to about 5 mm long, not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed 1-10 mm diam.

Distribution: West Sepik, East Sepik, Madang, Morobe, Southern Highlands, Western, Gulf, New Britain, New Ireland, Manus & Bougainville.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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