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

Horsfieldia pulverulenta Warb.

Nova Acta Academiae Caesareae Leopoldino-Carolinae Germanicae Naturae Curiosorum. (Monographie der Myristicaceen) Vol. 68: 342 (1897) Fig. 23.

Other Literature: W.J.J.O. de Wilde, Flora Malesiana Vol. 14: 172-174 (2000)

Field Characters: Large trees 15-25 m high. Bole cylindrical 30-50 cm diam.; straight; buttresses absent or usually present; spines absent; aerial roots absent; stilt roots absent. Bark brown, rough, scaly or flaky or pustular; lenticels irregular; subrhytidome red or brown; bark thickness <25 mm thick, 15.0-18.0 mm thick; blaze consisting of one layer; strongly aromatic; unpleasant; outer blaze red or brown, with stripes, fibrous; inner blaze red or brown, with stripes, fibrous; exudate present, colourless, flowing, changing colour on exposure to air, to red, sticky. Terminal buds enclosed by leaves; complex hairs present; star-like; stinging hairs absent; mature twig hairy; hairs dense.

Leaves: Spaced along branches <internodes readily visible>. Leaves spiral, simple; petiole present 2-12 mm long, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade <not peltate>, not swollen; lamina broadest below middle, (14.0-) 23.0-35.0 (-40.0) cm long, (4.0-) 7.0-10.0 (-13.0) cm wide; lamina symmetric, margin entire, not dissected or lobed, apex acuminate, 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 or pale brown slightly rusty-coloured, upper surface dark green young leaves with rusty-coloured hairs, hairs present, dense; oil dots absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary <from between a leaf and branch>. Flowers on a branched axis; flowers unisexual, with male and female flowers on different plants <dioecious>, flowers stalked pedicel up to 3.5 mm long, with many planes of symmetry <actinomorphic>, 1.5-4.0 (male flowers smaller than female flowers) mm long, small (< or =10 mm diam.) 3-4 mm diam.; perianth present, with all sepals and/or petals (hence tepals) similar, green or brown; inner perianth 2, some or partly joined; stamens 2 (male flowers), filaments present, joined <connate> to form a staminal column, free of perianth; ovary superior <seated above petals and sepals; hypogenous> female flowers, carpels solitary <monomerous>, locules 1; styles absent, 1.

Fruits: Fruits arranged on branched axis. Fruit 30-50 mm long, 20.0-30.0 mm diam., fruit greenish yellow or yellowish brown, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe. Seeds 1, much more than 10 mm long about 20 mm long, not winged, longer than wide ellipsoid, 1-10 mm diam. about 12 mm wide.

Distribution: Gulf possibly, Western, East Sepik, West Sepik & Madang.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details