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

Elaeocarpus blepharoceras Schltr.

Botanische Jahrbucher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie Vol. 54: 129 (1916)

Other Literature: M.J.E. Coode, Handbooks of the Flora of Papua New Guinea 81-83 (1981) Fig. 19.

Family: Elaeocarpaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Commercial hardwood

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to c. 34 m high); Bole cylindrical (to slightly fluted at base, up to c. 90 cm diam.); straight (bole 10-25 m long); buttresses buttresses present (buttresses up to c. 1.5 m high); spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark brown, rough, coarsely fissured or pustular, lenticels elongated vertically; Subrhytidome (under-bark) brown; less than 25 mm thick; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze red, markings absent, fibrous; inner blaze red, markings absent, fibrous; bark exudate (sap) present, colourless, not readily flowing (spotty), colour changing on exposure to air, to pale red, not sticky; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.

Indumentum: Complex hairs absent; stinging hairs absent; mature twig indumentum (hairs) present, hairs dense.

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 above middle, 6.0-10.0 (-15.0) cm, 3.0-5.0 (-8.0) cm; symmetric, entire or crenate, not dissected or lobed, acute, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface blue-green or pale green, upper surface dull dark green, indumentum (hairs) present, indumentum (hairs) dense; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, flowers on an unbranched axis, cones absent; flowers unisexual, unisexual with male and female flowers on the same plant, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 12.0-15.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (c. 10 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth white, pale yellow, or pale green; 4-5, free; stamens 13-18, present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 2; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on unbranched axis, fruit 40.0-45.0 mm long, 40.0 (c.) mm diam., blue, grey, or purple, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1-2, about 10 mm long, not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed 1-10 mm diam.

Distribution: Morobe, Western, Gulf & Central.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

.