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

Cryptocarya alleniana C.T.White

Journal of the Arnold Arboretum Vol. 31: 83 (1950)

Family: Lauraceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Commercial hardwood

Field Characters: Emergent tree (occasionally up to 48 m high), Large canopy tree (up to 35 m high), or Small sub-canopy tree; Bole cylindrical (up to 100 cm diam.); straight (bole 20-35 m long); buttresses buttresses absent or buttresses present (slightly often slightly flared at base); spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark brown or grey, slightly rough, fissured (distally) or pustular (near base), lenticels rounded/swelling; Subrhytidome (under-bark) green; less than 25 mm thick, 9.0-14.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze pale brown, speckled; inner blaze pale brown, speckled; bark exudate (sap) absent; 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), simple (a leaf composed of a single blade); petiole present, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade, not swollen; leaves slightly broadest below middle or broadest at or near middle, 9.0-15.0 cm, (4.0-) 5.0-8.0 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, acuminate, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface green or brown (hairy on veins of lower surface), upper surface dark green, indumentum (hairs) present (on veins of lower surface) or absent (upper surface), indumentum (hairs) sparse; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence terminal or axillary, flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 2.0-3.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (2-3 mm diam.); perianth present, with all sepals and/or petals (hence tepals) similar, inner perianth cream-coloured or white; 3 (outer perianth 3, inner perianth 3), free; stamens 9 (with inner most whorl of staminodes), present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels solitary, locules 1; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis (at maturity, fruit enclosed by enlarged receptacle), fruit 25.0-40.0 mm long, 15.0-25.0 mm diam., purple or bluish black, not spiny, slightly fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, much more than 10 mm long (15-20 mm long), not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed 1-10 mm diam. (c. 10 mm diam.).

Distribution: Morobe, Northern & Milne Bay.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

.