Barry Conn (NSW) & Kipiro Damas (LAE).
Copyright held by the authors, Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, and Papua New Guinea National Herbarium

Goniothalamus grandiflorus Boerl.

Ic. Bogor. Vol. 1: 136

Field Characters: Small trees 12-25 m high. Bole cylindrical 25-30 cm diam.; straight bole 7-10 m long; buttresses absent; spines absent; aerial roots absent; stilt roots absent. Bark brown, slightly rough or almost smooth, slightly cracked or pustular; lenticels slightly elongated vertically or slightly irregular; subrhytidome red or brown; bark thickness <25 mm thick, 5.0-8.0 mm thick; blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze pink, white, or yellow cream-coloured, with stripes white, fibrous; inner blaze white, yellow cream-coloured, or pink, with stripes white, fibrous; exudate present, colourless, spotty, changing colour on exposure to air or not changing colour on exposure to air, to pale brown, sticky. Terminal buds not enclosed by leaves; complex hairs absent; stinging hairs absent; mature twig without hairs.

Leaves: Spaced along branches <internodes readily visible>. Leaves spiral, simple; petiole present, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade <not peltate>, not swollen; lamina equally broad throughout much of length, (16.0-) 20.0-35.0 (-50.0) cm long, 7.0-12.0 (-13.0) cm wide; lamina symmetric, margin entire, not dissected or lobed, apex obtuse or sub acute, venation pinnate <secondary veins arising from the midrib along its length>, secondary veins open <spaced far apart to easily see tertiary veins>, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; lower surface pale green, upper surface dark green, hairs absent; oil dots absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence on the trunk or branches <cauliflorous-ramiflorous>. Flowers on an unbranched axis in clusters on trunk; flowers bisexual, stalked, with many planes of symmetry <actinomorphic>, 20.0-40.0 (-50.0) mm long, large (>10 mm diam.) 30-80 mm diam.; perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals, pink or brown strongly aromatic; inner perianth 3, free; stamens 100, filaments present, free of each other, free of perianth; ovary superior <seated above petals and sepals; hypogenous>, carpels separate (when more than one) <apocarpous>, locules 1 (per carpel); styles solitary <including joined together>, 1 (per carpel).

Fruits: Fruits arranged on unbranched axis in clusters along trunk. Fruit c. 80 mm long, c. 40.0 mm diam., fruit dull red broadest above middle, apex rounded, not spiny, slightly fleshy leathery, aggregate but fertilised carpels not joining together to form a single fruit, indehiscent, berry 1 seed per carpel. Seeds 1, much more than 10 mm long about 50 mm long, not winged, longer than wide, >10 mm diam. about 20 mm diam.

Distribution: Madang, Morobe, Western, Milne Bay, Northern & Central.

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