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 guppyi (F.Muell.) F.Muell. ex Forman

Kew Bulletin Vol. 19: 462 (1965)

Family: Lauraceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Occasional timber species

Field Characters: Small sub-canopy tree (up to c. 25 m high); Bole cylindrical (up to c. 35 cm diam.); straight (bole mostly 10-20 m long); buttresses buttresses absent (trunk often slightly spurred at base); spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark pale red or brown, slightly rough or smooth, slightly cracked; Subrhytidome (under-bark) mottled, white, or green; less than 25 mm thick, 9.0-14.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze brown or yellow, markings absent; inner blaze yellow 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) present when young or absent, hairs dense to sparse (with short reddish brown 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) (with a faint ginger-like aroma when crushed); petiole present, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade, not swollen; leaves broadest at or near middle to broadest below middle, 18.0-26.0 cm, 9.0-10.0 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, obtuse, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green, upper surface dark green, indumentum (hairs) present (when young (and on lower surface), indumentum (hairs) sparse to dense (with small reddish brown hairs); absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary to on the trunk or branches (by misinterpretation (because leaves not persistent), 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; perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth white; 3 (perianth consisting of 3 outer plus 3 inner parts that are frequently similar in shape and colour), free; stamens 100, present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary superior (female flowers, absent in male flowers), carpels solitary, locules 1; styles absent (male flowers) to solitary (female flowers), 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arising from single point, fruit black (bluish (when mature) to green (dark (glossy), not spiny, slightly fleshy, simple (receptacle enlarged and forming a cup around the base of the fruit), indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, not winged, broad (as wide as long).

Distribution: West Sepik, East Sepik, Madang, Morobe, Western Highlands, Eastern Highlands, Western, Gulf, Central, Northern, Milne Bay, Papuan Islands, New Britain & Bougainville.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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