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

Canarium acutifolium (DC.) Merr.

An Interpretation of Rumphius's Herbarium Amboinense 302 (1917)

Other Literature: P.W. Leenhouts, Flora Malesiana, Series 1, 291-293 (1956)

Family: Burseraceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Occasional timber species

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to 40 m high); Bole cylindrical (50-70 cm diam.); straight (bole up to 25 m long); buttresses buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark grey or brown, slightly rough or smooth, pustular, lenticels elongated vertically; Subrhytidome (under-bark) pale red or brown (pinkish brown); less than 25 mm thick, 10.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; strongly aromatic; pleasant; outer blaze pink, markings absent, granular with splinters (slightly very brittle); inner blaze pink, markings absent, granular with splinters (slightly very brittle); bark exudate (sap) present, colourless, not readily flowing (spotty), colour not changing on exposure to air, slightly 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, at base swollen; leaves pinnate (unbranched with more than three leaflets); petiolule not swollen or swollen (slightly at base, petiolule up to 5 mm long); rachis present, absent, absent; leaves with a terminal leaflet (the number of leaflets odd - imparipinnate), broadest at or near middle or broadest below middle, 8.0-15.0 cm, 3.0-5.0 cm, leaflets opposite (or subopposite), slightly asymmetric, terminal developing leaflet buds straight; venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface brown (with hairs dull brown), upper surface green, indumentum (hairs) absent; absent; domatia absent; stipules present, free, laterally placed, not encircling the twig, scale-like, not fringed, small, not persistent.

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, 4.0 (c.) mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (c. 4 mm diameter); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth pale yellow; 3, free; stamens 3-6, present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 3; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis, fruit 15.0-25.0 mm long, 12.0 (c.) mm diam., green (silvery), not spiny, non-fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, much more than 10 mm long (17 cm long), not winged, narrow (longer than wide), seed 1-10 mm diam. (10 mm diam).

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

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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Notes: Notes This description includes the taxonomic concepts of Canarium acutifolium var. acutifolium and C. acutifolium var. aemulans.