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

Neonauclea solomonensis C.E.Ridsdale

Garden's Bulletin Singapore Vol. 25: 274 (1970)

Other Literature: C.E. Ridsdale, Blumea 254 (1989) Fig. 15 (plate).

Family: Rubiaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Non-timber species

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to 30 m high) or Small sub-canopy tree; Bole cylindrical (rarely fluted, up to 80 cm diam.); straight; buttresses usually buttresses present; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark grey or pale brown, slightly rough, slightly scaly or flaky, slightly pustular, or finely fissured, lenticels irregular; Subrhytidome (under-bark) yellow; less than 25 mm thick; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze brown (yellowish (on exposure) or yellow, markings absent; inner blaze brown (yellowish (on exposure) or yellow, markings absent; bark exudate (sap) absent; 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), simple (a leaf composed of a single blade); petiole present, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade, not swollen; leaves broadest above middle or broadest at or near middle, 10.0-20.0 cm, (4.0-) 5.0-10.0 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, sub acute, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, not prominent, but visible, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green, upper surface dark green, indumentum (hairs) absent; absent; domatia absent; stipules present, joined, joined across twigs, not encircling the twig, leafy, not fringed, large (10-15 mm long), not persistent.

Flowers: Inflorescence terminal, flowers arising from a single point (Flowering globular clusters occurring singly or in threes), cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked (shortly (subsessile), flowers with many planes of symmetry, 7.0-8.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (c. 4 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth cream-coloured or white; 5, some or partly joined; stamens 5, present (short), free of each other, joined to the perianth; ovary inferior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 2; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arising from single point (forming a globular fruiting head 10-15 mm diam.), fruit 4.0-6.0 mm long, 2.0 (c.) mm diam., brown (pale (greenish brown), not spiny, non-fleshy, multiple, dehiscent (each fruitlet), capsule (each fruitlet spilting into 4 valves); seeds 1 (per fruitlet; many per globular fruiting head), to about 5 mm long, winged (shortly at both ends), narrow (longer than wide) (somewhat bilaterally flattened), seed 1-10 mm diam. (c. 2 mm diam.).

Distribution: Papuan Islands, New Ireland & Bougainville.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details