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

Nageia wallichiana Kuntze

Revisio Generum Plantarum 800 (1891)

Other Literature: D.J. de Laubenfels, Flora Malesiana, Series 1 391-393 (1988) Fig. 41.

Family: Podocarpaceae
Conifer

Timber Group: Softwood

Field Characters: Emergent tree or Large canopy tree (mostly 25-c. 54 m high); Bole cylindrical (mostly 40-60 cm diam.); straight (bole up to c. 30 m long); buttresses buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark red, grey, or brown (usually a mottled colour), slightly rough or smooth, slightly peeling or irregularly scaly or flaky; Subrhytidome (under-bark) green; less than 25 mm thick, 10.0-12.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; pleasant; outer blaze pale brown, yellow (pale (straw-coloured), or pale red, markings absent, fibrous; inner blaze pale brown, yellow (pale (straw-coloured), or pale red, markings absent, fibrous; bark exudate (sap) present, colourless, not readily flowing (spotty), slightly colour changing on exposure to air or colour not changing on exposure to air, to pale orange or pale brown, sticky; terminal buds enclosed by leaves.

Indumentum: Complex hairs absent; stinging hairs absent; mature twig indumentum (hairs) absent.

Leaves: Leaves spaced along branches, opposite (in pairs, opposite one another on the branchlet) (to subopposite), 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 usually broadest below middle, 6.0-14.0 (-23.0) cm, 2.0-5.0 (-9.0) cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, sub acute or slightly acuminate, venation parallel-veined, secondary veins almost closed or open, not prominent, but visible, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green, upper surface dull dark green, indumentum (hairs) absent; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, flowers single or flowers on a branched axis (flower clustered), cones absent; flowers unisexual, unisexual with male and female flowers on different plants, not stalked or stalked (shortly), flowers slightly asymmetric, 1.0-3.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (c. 1 mm diam.); perianth absent; stamens 1, absent (anthers inserted on flat scale), free of each other; ovary superior, carpels solitary, locules 1; styles absent.

Fruits: Infrutescence single, fruit (15.0-) 25.0-40.0 mm long, (15.0-) 18.0-20.0 mm diam., brown, bluish black, or red, not spiny, non-fleshy, simple, indehiscent, naked seed only; seeds 1, much more than 10 mm long (14-18 mm long), not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed more than 10 mm diam. (14-18 mm diam.).

Distribution: West Sepik, East Sepik, Morobe, Eastern Highlands, Southern Highlands, Western, Central, Northern, Milne Bay & Papuan Islands.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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Notes: Notes Formerly known as Decussocarpus wallichianus.