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 oleosum (Lam.) Engl.

in Engler & Prantl, Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien 3, Vol. 4: 241 (1896) Fig. 136.

Other Literature: P.W. Leenhouts, Flora Malesiana, Series 1, 278-279 (1956) Fig. 20-21-41.

Family: Burseraceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Commercial hardwood Tradename: Grey Canarium

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (12-20 m high, rarely to 30 m) or Small sub-canopy tree; Bole cylindrical; straight; buttresses buttresses present; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark grey, rough or slightly smooth, scaly or flaky or pustular, rarely lenticels rounded/swelling or lenticels irregular; Subrhytidome (under-bark) green; less than 25 mm thick; bark blaze consisting of one layer; outer blaze rarely pink or red, markings absent, fibrous; inner blaze pink or rarely brown, markings absent, fibrous; bark exudate (sap) present, colourless, not readily flowing (spotty), colour not changing on exposure to air, sticky; terminal buds enclosed by leaves (bracts) or not enclosed by leaves.

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

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, not swollen; leaves palmate (with more than three leaflets attached at one point to the stalk); petiolule not swollen; leaves broadest at or near middle, 6.0-7.0 cm, 2.0-2.5 cm, leaflets opposite, symmetric; venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green, upper surface dark green, indumentum (hairs) absent; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, flowers on an unbranched axis or 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, 5.0-7.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth green (olive green); 3, free; stamens 6, present, free of each other or at base joined, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 3; styles solitary (reduced in male flowers), 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on unbranched axis or arranged on branched axis, fruit 12.0-20.0 mm long, purple, not spiny, non-fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, not winged, narrow (longer than wide), seed 1-10 mm diam. (c. 10 mm diam.).

Distribution: West Sepik, Morobe, Central, Papuan Islands & New Britain.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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