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 ceilanica Thunb.

Kongl. Vetenskaps Academiens Handlingar Vol. 3: 132 (1782) Fig. 4.

Other Literature: B.J. Conn, Handbooks of the Flora of Papua New Guinea 140-142 (1995) Fig. 30.

Family: Gentianaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Occasional timber species

Field Characters: Small sub-canopy tree (8-12 m high, rarely to 20 m, often a large shrub to small treelet); Bole cylindrical (rarely larger than c. 20 cm diam.); straight (bole usually up to c. 3 m long, often branching from near base of tree); buttresses buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark brown; Subrhytidome (under-bark) green; less than 25 mm thick; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze white, yellow (pale (straw-coloured), or orange (pale (tinge); inner blaze white, yellow (pale (straw-coloured), or orange (pale (tinge); 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 broadest above middle, 8.0-15.0 (-24.0) cm, 3.0-6.0 (-10.0) cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, obtuse, sub acute, or sometimes mucronate, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, not prominent, but visible, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green, upper surface dark green, indumentum (hairs) absent; absent; domatia absent; stipules present, joined, joined across twigs, encircling the twig or soon 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, (25.0-) 35.0-75.0 mm long, diameter large (more than10 mm diam.) (35-45 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth white (sometimes with greenish tinge) or cream-coloured; 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 25.0 (c.) mm long, 35.0 (c.) mm diam., orange or red, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 100, to about 5 mm long (less than 2 mm long), not winged, irregular (irregularly angular), seed 1-10 mm diam. (c. 2 mm diam.).

Distribution: West Sepik, East Sepik, Madang, Morobe, Western Highlands, Eastern Highlands, Southern Highlands, Western, Central, Northern, Milne Bay, New Britain & Bougainville.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details