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

Endiandra forbesii Gamble

Kew Bulletin 153 (1910)

Family: Lauraceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Minor hardwood

Field Characters: Small sub-canopy tree (up to c. 25 m high); Bole cylindrical (up to c. 30 cm diam.); straight (bole up to c. 15 m long); buttresses buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark white (distally) or brown (pale (towards base), slightly rough or almost smooth, finely tessellated; Subrhytidome (under-bark) green or dark red; less than 25 mm thick, 6.0-8.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; pleasant (with faint fruit-like aroma); outer blaze brownish red or pale brown, markings absent, smooth; inner blaze dark brown or brownish red, markings absent, smooth; 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, sub opposite (in pairs, opposite one another on the branchlet) or usually 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 at or near middle, 10.0-17.0 cm, 5.0-7.0 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, acuminate, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green, upper surface dark green (glossy), indumentum (hairs) present, indumentum (hairs) dense or sparse (with hairs more or less restricted to veins, espcially of lower surface); absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 3.0-4.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (3-5 mm diam.); perianth present (hairy), with all sepals and/or petals (hence tepals) similar, inner perianth yellow; 3 (inner perianth 3, outer perianth 3), free; stamens 3 (staminodes 3), present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels solitary, locules 1; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis, fruit 15.0-20.0 mm long, 10.0 (c.) mm diam., green (dark (immature), not spiny, slightly fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, much more than 10 mm long, not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed 1-10 mm diam. (c. 8 mm diam.).

Distribution: Morobe, Milne Bay & New Britain.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details