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

Itoa stapfii (Koord.) Sleumer

Notizblatt des Botanischen Gartens und Museums zu Berlin-Dahlem Vol. 11: 1 026 (1934)

Other Literature: H. Sleumer, Flora Malesiana, Series 1, 13 (1954)

Family: Salicaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Occasional timber species

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (20-35 m high); Bole cylindrical (35-80 cm diam.); crooked or straight (sometimes bole 15-20 m long); buttresses buttresses present (buttresses mostly short); spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark slightly green or grey, slightly rough or smooth, pustular (scurfy - small scales readily rub off surface), lenticels elongated vertically; Subrhytidome (under-bark) green; less than 25 mm thick, 5.0-10.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze pale yellow or pale brown, markings absent or with stripes (cream-coloured), granular without splinters; inner blaze pale yellow or pale brown, markings absent or with stripes (cream-coloured), granular without splinters; bark exudate (sap) absent; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.

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

Leaves: Leaves spaced along branches, 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, attached to base of leaf blade, not swollen; leaves broadest at or near middle or broadest below middle, (7.0-) 10.0-15.0 (-17.0) cm, (4.5-) 5.0-8.0 (-10.5) cm; symmetric (to asymmetric), crenate, not dissected or lobed, acuminate (shortly), venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green (with veins pale yellow-green), upper surface green, indumentum (hairs) absent when mature or present when immature, indumentum (hairs) dense; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary (flowers strongly aromatic), flowers on an unbranched axis, cones absent; flowers unisexual, unisexual with male and female flowers on different plants, stalked, flowers 15.0-20.0 mm long, diameter large (more than10 mm diam.) (12-15 mm diam.); perianth present, with all sepals and/or petals (hence tepals) similar or petals absent, inner perianth pale yellow or pale green; 5 (sepals), free; stamens 5, present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 5; styles absent or solitary (very short), 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on unbranched axis, fruit (45.0-) 75.0-100.0 mm long, 25.0-40.0 mm diam., brownish red or grey, not spiny, non-fleshy, simple, dehiscent, capsule; seeds many 100, to about 5 mm long (4-5 mm long) or much more than 10 mm long (seed plus wing up to c. 15 mm diam.), winged (wing 8-10 mm wide), narrow (longer than wide), seed 1-10 mm diam. (c. 2 mm diam.).

Distribution: Madang, Morobe, Western Highlands & Western.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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Notes: Notes This genus was previously classified in the family Flacourtiaceae.