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

Elaeocarpus fuscoides Knuth

Fedde, Repert. Vol. 68: 75 (1940)

Field Characters: Small trees 12-15 m high. Bole cylindrical 12 cm diam.; straight bole 10 m long; buttresses absent; spines absent; aerial roots absent; stilt roots absent. Bark brown or grey, rough, pustular; lenticels irregular; subrhytidome green; bark thickness <25 mm thick, 3.0 mm thick; blaze consisting of one layer; strongly aromatic; pleasant; outer blaze brown or white, markings absent, fibrous; inner blaze brown or white, markings absent, fibrous; exudate present, colourless, spotty, not changing colour on exposure to air, slightly sticky. Terminal buds not enclosed by leaves; complex hairs absent; stinging hairs absent; mature twig hairy; hairs dense hairs red-brown.

Leaves: Spaced along branches <internodes readily visible>. Leaves spiral, simple; petiole present petiole 30-60 mm long, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade <not peltate>, not swollen; lamina broadest at or near middle, 10.0-16.0 (-22.0) (Streimann & Stevens LAE53998 (near Aseki, Morobe Province) cm long, 4.2-10.0 (-12.5) cm wide; lamina symmetric, margin shortly crenate, not dissected or lobed, apex acuminate, venation pinnate <secondary veins arising from the midrib along its length>, secondary veins open <spaced far apart to easily see tertiary veins>, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; lower surface red hairs rusty red-brown or brown, upper surface dark green, hairs present on lower surface, dense; oil dots absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary <from between a leaf and branch>. Flowers on a branched axis; flowers bisexual, stalked pedicel 14-16 mm long, with many planes of symmetry <actinomorphic>, (8.0-) 11.0-12.0 mm long, large (>10 mm diam.) 22-25 mm diam.; perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals hairy, white; inner perianth 5, free; ovary superior <seated above petals and sepals; hypogenous>, carpels joined (when more than one) <syncarpous>.

Fruits: Fruits arranged on branched axis. Fruit 16-20 mm long, 13.0-15.0 mm diam., fruit blue or green, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe.

Distribution: Western Highlands, Eastern Highlands, Milne Bay, Morobe & Central.

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