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 firma Hook.f.

The Flora of British India Vol. 5: (1886)

Family: Lauraceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Commercial hardwood

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to c. 40 m high); Bole cylindrical (up to c. 60 cm diam.); straight (bole up to 30 m long); buttresses buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; Bark brown or orange, rough, scaly or flaky (large flakes); Subrhytidome (under-bark) brown; less than 25 mm thick; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze brown or orange, markings absent; inner blaze orange or 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 or present when young, hairs dense to sparse (with hairs reddish).

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, 6.0-13.0 cm, 2.5-6.6 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, obtuse, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface yellow to green to blue-green, upper surface dark green, indumentum (hairs) absent (upper surface) to present (lower surface), indumentum (hairs) sparse (with short hairs restricted to veins of lower surface); absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence on the trunk or branches (on distal branchlets below leaves) to axillary, flowers arising from a single point or sometimes flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers unisexual, unisexual with male and female flowers on different plants, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 3.0-4.0 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 pale green or pale yellow; 3 (perianth consisting of 3 outer plus 3 inner parts that are frequently similar in shape and colour), free; stamens 0-(male flowers); (female 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 arising from single point or sometimes arranged on branched axis, fruit 10.0-15.0 mm long, 10.0 (c.) mm diam., red, not spiny, slightly fleshy, simple (receptacle enlarged and forming a cup around the base of the fruit), indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, about 10 mm long, not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed 1-10 mm diam. (7-8 mm diam.).

Distribution: Morobe, Gulf, Northern & Manus.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details