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

Celtis rigescens (Miq.) Planch.

Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis, Sive Enumeratio Contracta Ordinum Generum Specierumque Plantarum Huc Usque Cognitarum, Juxta Methodi Naturalis Normas Digesta Vol. 17: 182 (1873)

Other Literature: E. Soepadmo, Flora Malesiana, Series 1, 58-61 (1977) Fig. 20-23.

Family: Cannabaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Non-timber species

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to 45 m high) or Small sub-canopy tree; Bole cylindrical (up to c. 120 cm diam.); straight (bole up to 20 m long); buttresses buttresses present (buttresses up to 2 m high); spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark grey or brown, rough or slightly smooth, fissured or finely pustular, lenticels elongated vertically or slightly lenticels irregular; Subrhytidome (under-bark) white or yellow (pale (cream-coloured); more than 25 mm thick, 25.0-38.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze white or pale yellow, speckled or with stripes (like bands of different shades of pale yellow), corky; inner blaze white or pale yellow, speckled or with stripes (like bands of different shades of pale yellow), corky; bark exudate (sap) present, colourless, flowing or not readily flowing (spotty); terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.

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

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 present, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade, not swollen; leaves broadest at or near middle to broadest below middle, (5.0-) 8.0-12.0 (-15.0) cm, (2.5-) 3.0-5.0 (-6.5) cm; slightly very asymmetric or symmetric, entire or distally serrate to dentate (toothed), not dissected or lobed, obtuse to acuminate, venation distally pinnate or at base trinerved, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green or green, upper surface dark green (glossy), indumentum (hairs) absent or present (on lower surface, with hairs stiff), indumentum (hairs) dense; absent; domatia absent; stipules present, free, laterally placed, not encircling the twig, leafy, not fringed, large, persistent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, 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, 2.0 (c.) mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.); perianth present, with all sepals and/or petals (hence tepals) similar, inner perianth pale yellow; (4-) 5, free; stamens (4-) 5, present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 1; styles absent.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis, fruit 15.0 (c.) mm long, dark red, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, about 10 mm long, not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed 1-10 mm diam.

Distribution: East Sepik, Madang, Morobe, Central, Milne Bay, New Britain, New Ireland & Bougainville.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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Notes: Notes The genus Celtis was previously classified in the separate family Ulmaceae.