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 finisterrae Schltr.

Botanische Jahrbucher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie Vol. 54: 132 (1916)

Family: Elaeocarpaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Occasional timber species

Field Characters: Large canopy tree or Small sub-canopy tree (up to 20 m high); Bole cylindrical (c. 30 cm diam.); crooked or straight (bole up to c. 5 m long); buttresses buttresses present; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark brown, rough, pustular, lenticels elongated vertically; Subrhytidome (under-bark) red or brown; less than 25 mm thick, 9.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; pleasant; outer blaze pale brown, slightly with stripes, fibrous; inner blaze pale brown, slightly with stripes, fibrous; bark exudate (sap) absent; 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, sub opposite (in pairs, opposite one another on the branchlet), simple (a leaf composed of a single blade); petiole present (35-50 mm long), not winged, attached to base of leaf blade, not swollen; leaves broadest above middle or broadest at or near middle, 19.0-27.0 cm, 9.0-14.0 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed (slightly undulate), rounded, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green or red (greenish (caused by presence of red hairs), upper surface green, indumentum (hairs) present, indumentum (hairs) dense; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, flowers on an unbranched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 30.0-35.0 mm long, diameter large (more than10 mm diam.) (c. 30 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth white, pale yellow, or cream-coloured; 5, free; stamens 100, present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 3; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on unbranched axis, fruit 20.0 (c. (mature fruits not seen) mm long, presumably blue, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe.

Distribution: Morobe or Eastern Highlands.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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