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

Chrysophyllum roxburghii G.Don

A General System of Gardening and Botany Vol. 4: 33

Family: Sapotaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Minor hardwood

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to c. 25 m high); Bole cylindrical (30-40 cm diam.); straight (bole c. 15 m long); buttresses buttresses present (buttresses up to 1.5 m high) or buttresses absent (or slightly spurred at base); spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark grey or brown (occurring in patches), rough, finely fissured; Subrhytidome (under-bark) yellow, dark red, brown, or mottled; less than 25 mm thick, 6.0-10.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze red or rarely brown, markings absent, fibrous; inner blaze red or brown, markings absent, fibrous; bark exudate (sap) present, 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) present, hairs dense (with short hairs).

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 below middle, 8.0-18.0 cm, 2.0-3.0 cm; symmetric (to slightly asymmetric), entire, not dissected or lobed, acuminate or long-tapering, venation pinnate, secondary veins closed, not prominent, but visible, intramarginal veins present; leaves lower surface pale green (glossy), upper surface pale green (glossy), indumentum (hairs) absent; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, flowers arising from a single point, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 3.0 (c.) mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (c. 3 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth white or pale yellow; 5, some or partly joined; stamens 5, present, free of each other, joined to the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules (4-) 5 (-12); styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence single, fruit 45.0-60.0 mm long, green (dark (possibly immature), not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, berry; seeds 4-5, not winged, broad (as wide as long).

Distribution: East Sepik, Madang, Morobe, Northern & New Britain.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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