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

Gmelina moluccana (Blume) Backer ex K. Heyne

Nuttige Planten van Nederlandsch-Indie tevens Synthetische Catalogus der Verzamelingen van het Museum voor Technische en Handelsbotanie te Buitenzorg Vol. 4: 118 (1917)

Family: Lamiaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Commercial hardwood

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to 40 m high); Bole cylindrical (up to c. 90 cm diam.); straight (bole 7-12 m long); buttresses buttresses present or buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark grey or brown, rough or smooth, scaly or flaky (irregular flakes), fissured, or slightly peeling; Subrhytidome (under-bark) pale yellow; less than 25 mm thick, 10.0-12.0; bark blaze with two layers; faintly to non-aromatic; unpleasant (faintly (weak turnip odour); outer blaze pale yellow, markings absent, slightly corky; inner blaze pale yellow, red, or brown (reddish (soon turning red-brown on exposure to air), markings absent, slightly corky; bark exudate (sap) present, colourless, not readily flowing (spotty), colour changing on exposure to air, to brown or red, slightly sticky; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.

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

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 below middle, 10.0-30.0 cm, 10.0-18.0 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, obtuse or sub acute, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface dull pale green, upper surface green, indumentum (hairs) present, indumentum (hairs) dense; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence terminal or axillary, flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with one plane of symmetry, 15.0-20.0 mm long, diameter large (more than10 mm diam.) (15-20 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth white, pale purple, or mauve; 5, some or partly joined; stamens 4, present, free of each other, joined to the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 4; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis, fruit 20.0-25.0 mm long, 20.0-25.0 mm diam., purple, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, much more than 10 mm long (12-18 mm long), not winged, narrow (longer than wide), seed 1-10 mm diam. (c. 10 mm diam.).

Distribution: West Sepik, East Sepik, Madang, Morobe, Western Highlands, Southern Highlands, Gulf, Central, New Britain & Manus.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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Notes: Notes Formerly included in the family Verbenaceae. Now regarded as part of the Lamiaceae subfamily Viticoideae.