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 timoriana Span.

in Hooker, Companion to the Botanical Magazine Vol. 1: 350 (1835)

Family: Lauraceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Commercial hardwood

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to 35 m high) or Small sub-canopy tree; Bole cylindrical (up to 90 cm diam.); straight (bole up to c. 12 m long); buttresses buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark almost white, grey (light to dark grey), or brown, smooth or slightly rough, scattered pustular, lenticels rounded/swelling; Subrhytidome (under-bark) yellowish green, orange, or yellow; less than 25 mm thick, 6.0-10.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; strongly aromatic or faintly to non-aromatic; cinnamon-like; outer blaze pale brown, with stripes (white); inner blaze orange or yellow, with stripes (white); 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, 17.0-19.0 (-20.0) cm, 5.5-6.0 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, sub acuminate, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green, upper surface dark yellow, indumentum (hairs) absent; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary or on the trunk or branches (occurring on branchlets below leaves), 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, 3.0-4.0 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 yellow or white; 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, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arising from single point, fruit 9.0-12.0 mm long, 8.0-10.0 mm diam., bluish black, green (whitish (when immature), or dark 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 (c. 8 mm long), not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed 1-10 mm diam. (c. 8 mm diam.).

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

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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