Barry Conn (NSW) & Kipiro Damas (LAE).
Copyright held by the authors, Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, and Papua New Guinea National Herbarium

Ceriops decandra (Griff.) Ding Hou

Flora Malesiana Series I Vol. 5: (1958)

Other Literature: M. Percival and J.S. Womersley, Floristics and Ecology of the Mangrove Vegetation of Papua New Guinea 58-62 (1975) Fig. 43-and-45.

Field Characters: Small trees up to about 15 m high, or shrubs. Bole cylindrical up to 20 cm diam.; sometimes straight mostly branching from near base, bole about 1 m long or crooked; buttresses present; spines absent; aerial roots present forming plank-like buttresses; stilt roots absent. Bark grey, red, or brown, rough; exudate absent. Terminal buds not enclosed by leaves; complex hairs absent; stinging hairs absent; mature twig without hairs.

Leaves: Clustered at end of branches <internodes indistinct>. Leaves opposite, simple; petiole present 10-30 mm long, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade <not peltate>, not swollen; lamina broadest at or near middle or occasionally equally broad throughout much of length, 4.5-10.0 cm long, 2.5-6.0 cm wide; lamina symmetric, margin entire, not dissected or lobed, apex rounded, venation pinnate <secondary veins arising from the midrib along its length>, secondary veins open <spaced far apart to easily see tertiary veins>, not visible or not prominent, but visible, intramarginal veins absent; lower surface pale green, upper surface glossy green or blue-green, hairs absent; oil dots absent; domatia absent; stipules present, joined, joined across twigs <growing between opposite leaves and leaving a scar between them when they fall; interpetiolar>, not encircling the twig, leafy, not fringed, large <easily visible to the eye> 15-25 mm long, not persistent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary <from between a leaf and branch>. Flowers on a branched axis or flowers on an unbranched axis; flowers bisexual, not stalked but clusters of flowers on peduncles about 5 mm long, with many planes of symmetry <actinomorphic>, 6.0 mm long, small (< or =10 mm diam.) 5-6 mm diam.; perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals, white or cream-coloured; inner perianth 5 (with apex of each petal fringed), free sometimes the broad bases are touching; stamens 10, filaments present, free of each other, free of perianth; ovary partly inferior <perigenous>, carpels joined (when more than one) <syncarpous> styles solitary <including joined together> 1-2 mm long, 1.

Fruits: Fruits arranged on branched axis or fruits arranged on unbranched axis. Fruit 10-20 mm long, 7.0-8.0 mm diam., fruit brown, not spiny, non-fleshy leathery, simple, indehiscent, drupe the fruit does not fall with the often slightly ridged hypocotyl. Seeds 1, not winged.

Distribution: Central, Western, Gulf & Madang.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details