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

Litsea collina S.Moore

Journal of Botany Vol. Vol. 61 Supplement 43: (1923)

Family: Lauraceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Commercial hardwood

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to c. 30 m high); Bole cylindrical (up to c. 40 cm diam.); straight; buttresses buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark grey or brown, smooth; Subrhytidome (under-bark) green; less than 25 mm thick; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze pale brown, markings absent; inner blaze pale brown, markings absent; bark exudate (sap) absent; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.

Indumentum: Complex hairs absent; stinging hairs absent; mature twig indumentum (hairs) absent.

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, (9.0-) 11.0-12.0 cm, (4.5-) 5.0-7.5 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, obtuse or sub rounded, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface greenish yellow or green, upper surface dark green, indumentum (hairs) absent; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence on the trunk or branches (on distal branchlets below leaves) or axillary, sometimes flowers on a branched axis or flowers arising from a single point, cones absent; flowers unisexual, unisexual with male and female flowers on different plants, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 3.0-5.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (3-4 mm diam.); perianth present, with all sepals and/or petals (hence tepals) similar, inner perianth green or yellow; 3 (perianth consisting of 3 outer plus 3 inner parts that are frequently similar in shape and colour), free; stamens 0-(female flowers); (male flowers)-9, present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary superior (female flowers, absent in male flowers), carpels solitary, locules 1; styles solitary (female flowers) or absent (male flowers), 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence sometimes arranged on branched axis or arising from single point, fruit 17.0-22.0 mm long, 13.0-15.0 mm diam., green (when immature (with white dots), not spiny, slightly fleshy, simple (receptacle enlarged and forming a cup around the base of the fruit), indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, much more than 10 mm long (12-15 mm long), not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed more than 10 mm diam. (c. 12 mm diam.).

Distribution: Morobe or Western.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details