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

Ganophyllum falcatum Blume

Museum Botanicum Lugduno-Batavum sive stirpium Exoticarum, Novarum vel Minus Cognitarum ex Vivis aut Siccis Brevis Expositio et Descriptio Vol. 1: 230 (1850)

Other Literature: P.W. Leenhouts, Flora Malesiana, Series 1 538-540 (1994) Fig. 29.

Family: Sapindaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Commercial hardwood

Field Characters: Emergent tree or Large canopy tree (up to 40 m high, sometimes to 50 m); Bole cylindrical (80-95 cm diam.); straight (bole 20-45 m long); buttresses buttresses present or buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark grey, dark brown, or slightly black, rough, scaly or flaky; Subrhytidome (under-bark) pale red or brown (pinkish brown); less than 25 mm thick, 10.0; bark blaze with two layers; strongly aromatic; unpleasant; outer blaze pale brown, markings absent, fibrous; inner blaze slightly white, pink, or brown (yellowish (straw-coloured), markings absent, fibrous; bark exudate (sap) present, colourless, not readily flowing (spotty), colour not changing on exposure to air, not sticky; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.

Indumentum: Complex hairs absent; stinging hairs absent; mature twig indumentum (hairs) absent.

Leaves: Leaves spaced along branches, spiral (leaves occurring singly at a node and arranged spirally up the branchlet), compound (a leaf made up from two or more leaflets); petiole present, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade, not swollen; leaves pinnate (unbranched with more than three leaflets) (mostly with 5-8 leaflets); petiolule not swollen or swollen (slightly (at base); rachis present, absent, absent; leaves with a terminal leaflet (the number of leaflets odd - imparipinnate), broadest at or near middle or broadest below middle, 6.0-23.0 cm, 3.0-7.5 cm, leaflets alternate, asymmetric or symmetric (upper leaves often only slightly asymmetric), terminal developing leaflet buds absent; venation pinnate, secondary veins open, not prominent, but visible, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface green, upper surface dark green or blue-green, indumentum (hairs) absent; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 3.0-5.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (c. 8 mm diameter); perianth present, with all sepals and/or petals (hence tepals) similar (sepals present, petals absent), inner perianth yellow or green (pale (yellowish-green); 4-6, free; stamens 5, present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules rarely 2-3; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis (sepals persistent), fruit 10.0-15.0 (-20.0) mm long, 5.0-8.0 mm diam., green or orange, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1 (green), about 10 mm long, not winged, narrow (longer than wide), seed 1-10 mm diam.

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

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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