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

Ficus subtrinervia Lauterb. & K.Schum.

Nachträge zur Flora der Deutschen Schutzgebiete in der Südsee 271 (1901)

Other Literature: C.C.Berg & E.J.H.Corner, Flora Malesiana, Series 1 160-162 (2005) Fig. 36.

Family: Moraceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Non-timber species

Field Characters: Small sub-canopy tree or Large canopy tree (20-40 m high); Bole cylindrical (60-70 cm diam.); straight (bole up to 20 m long); buttresses buttresses present (buttresses up to 1.3 m high); spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark greyish green, brown (often mottled), or grey, almost smooth or slightly rough, slightly fissured or pustular, lenticels elongated vertically; Subrhytidome (under-bark) green; less than 25 mm thick, 18.0-20.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; strongly aromatic; pleasant; outer blaze pale brown or pink, with stripes, granular without splinters or slightly fibrous; inner blaze pink or pale brown, with stripes, granular without splinters or slightly fibrous; bark exudate (sap) present, white/milky, flowing, colour changing on exposure to air, to brown or golden-coloured, sticky; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.

Indumentum: Complex hairs absent; stinging hairs absent; mature twig indumentum (hairs) absent or present when young, hairs sparse.

Leaves: Leaves spaced along branches, 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 below middle, (3.0-) 5.0-15.0 (-20.0) cm, (2.0-) 3.0-6.0 (-7.5) cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, sub acuminate, sub acute, or obtuse, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, not prominent, but visible, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface green, upper surface dark green (glossy), indumentum (hairs) absent or present, indumentum (hairs) sparse (adpressed hairs on midrib of lower surface); absent; domatia absent; stipules present, free, laterally placed, not encircling the twig, leafy, not fringed, large (15-20 mm long), usually persistent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, flowers on an unbranched axis (flowers within a synconium/fig) or flowers arising from a single point (with syconium/fig in pairs), cones absent; flowers unisexual, unisexual with male and female flowers on the same plant, stalked (shortly) or not stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry (synconium/fig), with one plane of symmetry (male and female flowers), or completely asymmetric, 3.0-5.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (2-3 mm diam.); perianth present, with all sepals and/or petals (hence tepals) similar (membranous), inner perianth red; 3-4, some or partly joined (shortly (at base); stamens 1 (male flowers), present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary superior (female flowers), carpels solitary, locules 1; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arising from single point (syconium/fig in pairs on short-shoots on older wood) or arranged on unbranched axis (individual fruits arranged within a fleshy synconium/fig), fruit 15.0-20.0 mm long, 15.0-20.0 mm diam., dark red, not spiny, fleshy, syconium (fig), indehiscent, syconium (fig) or achene (individual fruits within synconium/fig); seeds 100 (per synconium/fig), barely visible (to 1 mm long), not winged, narrow (longer than wide), seed less than 1 mm diam.

Distribution: East Sepik, Madang, Morobe, Gulf, Central, Northern, Milne Bay, Papuan Islands, New Britain & Manus.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details