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 markgraviana A.C.Sm.

Journal of the Arnold Arboretum Vol. 22: 66 (1941)

Other Literature: W.J.J.O. de Wilde, Flora Malesiana, Series 1 521-523 (2000) Fig. 79.

Family: Myristicaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Commercial hardwood

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to 30 m high) or Small sub-canopy tree; Bole cylindrical (up to c. 30 cm diam.); straight; buttresses buttresses present (occasionally buttresses up to 1 m high or fluted to 2 m above base of trunk); spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark grey or dark brown, rough or sometimes smooth, fissured; Subrhytidome (under-bark) brown; less than 25 mm thick; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze white or pale yellow, markings absent; inner blaze white or pale yellow, markings absent; bark exudate (sap) present, colourless, flowing or not readily flowing (spotty), colour changing on exposure to air, to red (or pale red), slightly sticky; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.

Indumentum: Complex hairs absent; stinging hairs absent; mature twig indumentum (hairs) present or absent, hairs dense to sparse (soon glabrous).

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, (8.0-) 16.0-23.0 cm, (3.0-) 6.0-10.0 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, acute, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface blue-green to pale green, upper surface dark green (glossy), indumentum (hairs) present, indumentum (hairs) dense to sparse (scales and hairs present); absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, 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, 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 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 solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence single to arising from single point (sometimes (with up to 3 fruits), fruit 30.0-50.0 (-55.0) mm long, yellow to red to brown (densely covered with red-brown hairs), not spiny, fleshy, simple, dehiscent, capsule (2-valved); seeds 1, much more than 10 mm long (c. 20 mm long), not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed more than 10 mm diam. (c. 20 mm diam.).

Distribution: Madang, Morobe, Northern, Milne Bay.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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