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

Fagraea berteroana Benth.

Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society. Botany Vol. 1: 98 (1857)

Other Literature: B.J. Conn, Handbooks of the Flora of Papua New Guinea 136-137 (1995) Fig. 31.

Family: Gentianaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Non-timber species

Field Characters: Usually Small sub-canopy tree; buttresses buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark sometimes grey or dark brown, rough, sometimes scaly or flaky or fissured; less than 25 mm thick; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze pale brown, markings absent; inner blaze pale brown, markings absent; 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, opposite (in pairs, opposite one another on the branchlet), simple (a leaf composed of a single blade); petiole present, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade, not swollen; leaves rarely broadest above middle, broadest at or near middle, or rarely broadest below middle, (8.0-) 10.0-16.0 (-19.0) cm, (4.5-) 6.0-10.5 (-12.0) cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, rounded or acuminate (shortly), venation pinnate, secondary veins open, not prominent, but visible, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface green, upper surface green, indumentum (hairs) absent; absent; domatia absent; stipules present, joined, joined across twigs, not encircling the twig, collar-like, not fringed, large, persistent.

Flowers: Inflorescence terminal, flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, (40.0-) 45.0-100.0 mm long, diameter large (more than10 mm diam.) (c. 30 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth white, yellow, or pale orange; 5, some or partly joined; stamens 5, present, free of each other, joined to the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 2; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis, fruit 30.0-60.0 mm long, orange or red, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, berry; seeds 100, barely visible (to 1 mm long) (c. 1 mm long), not winged, irregular (irregularly angular), seed 1-10 mm diam. (c. 1 mm diam.).

Distribution: West Sepik, Morobe, Western Highlands, Eastern Highlands, Southern Highlands, Western, Central, Northern, Milne Bay, Papuan Islands, New Britain, New Ireland, Manus & Bougainville.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details