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

Lithocarpus megacarpus Soepadmo

Reinwardtia Vol. 8: 259 (1970)

Other Literature: E. Soepadmo, Flora Malesiana, Series 1, 346 (1972)

Family: Fagaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Major exportable hardwood

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (9-30 m high) or Small sub-canopy tree; Bole cylindrical (up to c. 50 cm diam.); straight (bole 9-20 m long); buttresses buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark grey or pale brown, rough, slightly fissured or slightly pustular, lenticels elongated vertically; Subrhytidome (under-bark) green or brown (with greenish red stripes); less than 25 mm thick, 15.0 (c.); bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze red or brown, markings absent, granular with splinters; inner blaze red or brown, markings absent, granular with splinters; 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 present, disk-shaped (peltate) or star-like (stellate); stinging hairs absent; mature twig indumentum (hairs) present, hairs dense.

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 rarely broadest below middle, (8.5-) 11.0-14.0 (-16.0) cm, (3.5-) 5.0-6.0 (-8.0) cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, acute or acuminate, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green, brown, or grey, upper surface green, brown, or grey, indumentum (hairs) absent (above) or present (minutely adpressed stellate hairs), indumentum (hairs) dense or sparse; absent; domatia absent; stipules present, free, laterally placed, not encircling the twig, leafy (narrowly ovate), not fringed, large (10-15 mm long), not persistent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary or leaf-opposed, flowers single (female) or flowers on an unbranched axis (male & female sometimes in clusters of 3s), cones absent; flowers unisexual, unisexual with male and female flowers on the same plant, not stalked, flowers slightly asymmetric, 2.0-(c.; c. (female flowers); (male flowers)-4.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (2-4 mm diam.); perianth present, with all sepals and/or petals (hence tepals) similar, inner perianth pale yellow; 6, some or partly joined; stamens 10-(staminodes in female flowers)-15, present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary inferior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules (2-) 6 (-9); styles free, 3.

Fruits: Infrutescence single or arranged on unbranched axis, fruit 20.0-35.0 mm long, brown (dark glossy), not spiny (basally with rough cap), non-fleshy, simple, indehiscent, nut; seeds 1, much more than 10 mm long (12-25 mm long), not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed more than 10 mm diam. (15-30 mm diam.).

Distribution: Morobe, Western Highlands, Eastern Highlands, Southern Highlands, Gulf, Central & Milne Bay.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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