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 sogerensis (S.Moore) Markgr. ex A.Camus

Les Chênes, Texte, iii Vol. 8: 795 (1954) Fig. 415.

Other Literature: E. Soepadmo, Flora Malesiana, Series 1, 374 (1972)

Family: Fagaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Major exportable hardwood

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to c. 36 m high); Bole cylindrical (up to 100 cm diam.); straight (bole up to c. 15 m long); buttresses buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark pale brown, slightly rough or smooth, finely fissured; Subrhytidome (under-bark) pale yellow or brown; less than 25 mm thick, 8.0-10.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze pale yellow or pale brown, markings absent; inner blaze pale yellow or pale brown, markings absent; 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 or absent (later hairs not persistent), star-like (stellate); stinging hairs absent; mature twig indumentum (hairs) present or later absent, hairs dense to sparse.

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 slightly broadest below middle, (6.0-) 8.0-10.0 (-12.0) cm, (3.0-) 4.0-5.0 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, bluntly acuminate, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent (8-10 pairs), intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale brown or grey, upper surface green, brown, or greenish grey, indumentum (hairs) absent (above) or present (adpressed stellate hairs below), indumentum (hairs) sparse; absent; domatia absent; stipules present, free, laterally placed, not encircling the twig, ovate leafy, not fringed, small (c. 1 mm long), not persistent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary or leaf-opposed, flowers single (female) or flowers on an unbranched axis (male in clusters of 3s, female rarely in 2s or 3s), cones absent; flowers unisexual, unisexual with male and female flowers on the same plant, not stalked, flowers slightly asymmetric, 2.0-3.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (c. 3 mm diam.); perianth present, with all sepals and/or petals (hence tepals) similar, inner perianth pale yellow or pale red; 5-7, some or partly joined; stamens 10-12, 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 (rarely (of 2 or 3 cupules 'fruits'), fruit 30.0 (c.) mm long, dark brown, not spiny, non-fleshy, simple, indehiscent, nut; seeds 1, much more than 10 mm long (c. 20 mm long), not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed more than 10 mm diam. (c. 15 mm diam.).

Distribution: Morobe, Eastern Highlands & Central.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

.