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

Myristica cucullata Markgr.

Botanische Jahrbucher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie Vol. 67: 166 (1935)

Other Literature: D.B. Foreman, Handbooks of the Flora of Papua New Guinea 192 (1978)

Family: Myristicaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Commercial hardwood

Field Characters: Small sub-canopy tree; Bole cylindrical; straight; buttresses buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots 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 or equally broad throughout much of length, 15.0-25.0 cm, 4.0-9.0 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, obtuse or acute, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green, upper surface green, indumentum (hairs) absent; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, flowers arising from a single point or flowers on an unbranched axis (short), cones absent; flowers unisexual, unisexual with male and female flowers on different plants, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 7.0-10.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.); perianth present, with all sepals and/or petals (hence tepals) similar, inner perianth pale yellow; 2-3 (-5), some or partly joined; stamens 8-30, absent, joined, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 1; styles absent.

Fruits: Infrutescence arising from single point or arranged on unbranched axis, fruit 60.0 (c.) mm long, yellow or pale brown, not spiny, fleshy, simple, dehiscent, capsule; seeds 1, much more than 10 mm long, not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed more than 10 mm diam.

Distribution: West Sepik, East Sepik, Madang, Morobe, Eastern Highlands, Western & Central.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

Notes: Notes W.J.J.O. de Wilde (2000). Flora Malesiana, Series 1, volume 14, pp. 445 & 446 restricted this species to three known collections, Ledermann 10131 (type), Ledermann 9110 (both from the East Sepik region) and Croft et al. LAE61173 from the Gulf region. In this account, we have applied the same broader species concept as used by D.B. Foreman, 1978, Handbooks of the Flora of Papua New Guinea, vol. 1, p. 192).