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

Halfordia kendack (Montrouz.) Guillaumin

Notulae Systematicae 2 (1911)

Family: Rutaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Non-timber species

Field Characters: Small sub-canopy tree (usually up to 25 m high) or Large canopy tree (up to c. 32 m high); Bole cylindrical (up to 60 cm diam.); crooked or straight (bole mostly 6-10 m long); buttresses buttresses absent (or slightly spurred or flutted at base); spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark grey, slightly rough or smooth, cracked (slightly (vertically); Subrhytidome (under-bark) yellow or green; less than 25 mm thick, (10.0-) 16.0-20.0; bark blaze with two layers; faintly to non-aromatic; faintly cinnamon-like or pleasant (sweetly aromatic); outer blaze yellow (pale (cream-coloured) or white, with stripes (white); inner blaze pink or red, with stripes (white); 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, sub opposite (in pairs, opposite one another on the branchlet) or 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 or winged (narrowly (lamina extended down along petiole), attached to base of leaf blade, not swollen; leaves broadest above middle or sometimes broadest at or near middle, 5.0-18.0 cm, 1.0-5.0 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, sub acuminate or obtuse, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, not prominent, but visible, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface green (glossy (to sub-glossy), upper surface dark green (glossy), indumentum (hairs) absent; present (glands dense); domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence terminal, flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 4.0-6.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (c. 5 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth white; 5, free; stamens 10, present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 5; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis, fruit (7.0-) (see notes) 10.0-15.0 mm long, 10.0-17.0 mm diam., purple (strongly aromatic), red (pinkish red when partly ripe), or bluish black, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, about 10 mm long (8-10 mm long), not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed 1-10 mm diam. (5-8 mm diam.).

Distribution: Morobe, Western Highlands, Eastern Highlands, Southern Highlands, Western, Central & New Britain.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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Notes: Notes One collection (D.B. Foreman LAE60492) from the Morehead subdistrict, Western region has unusually small, apparently mature fruits, less than 10 mm long and wide. Although the leaves are also small, this collections appears to belong to this species.

Previously this species was known as Halfordia papuana Lauterb.