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

Parastemon versteeghii Merr. & L.M.Perry

Journal of the Arnold Arboretum Vol. 21: 197 (1940)

Family: Chrysobalanaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Occasional timber species

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to 40 m high); Bole cylindrical (to slightly channelled or fluted near base, up to 100 cm diam.); straight (bole up to 25 m long); buttresses often buttresses present or buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark dark brown or almost black, rough, scaly or flaky or pustular, lenticels irregular or lenticels rounded/swelling; Subrhytidome (under-bark) red (to pinkish); less than 25 mm thick, 10.0-15.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; strongly aromatic or faintly to non-aromatic; pleasant; outer blaze red or brown, markings absent or with stripes (faint), granular without splinters; inner blaze red or brown, markings absent or with stripes (faint), granular without splinters; bark exudate (sap) present or absent, colourless, not readily flowing (spotty), colour not changing on exposure to air, not sticky (or very slightly sticky); 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 often equally broad throughout much of length, (4.5-) 5.0-10.0 cm, 1.8-3.7 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, sub acute or acuminate (narrowly), venation pinnate, secondary veins open, not prominent, but visible, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface green, upper surface dark green, indumentum (hairs) absent; absent; domatia absent; stipules present, free, laterally placed, not encircling the twig, scale-like, not fringed, small (c. 1 mm long), not persistent.

Flowers: Inflorescence terminal or axillary, flowers on an unbranched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 10.0 (c.) mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (5-8 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth white or pale pink; 5 (with hairy margin), free or some or partly joined (by misinterpretation: hypanthium incorrectly regarded as corolla tube); stamens 5, present, free of each other, free of the perianth or joined to the perianth (by misinterpretation: joined to top of hypanthium, together with petals); ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 1; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on unbranched axis, fruit 15.0-16.0 mm long, not spiny, non-fleshy, simple, indehiscent or slightly dehiscent, follicle (opening by 2 lateral plates on germination to allow seedling to grow), drupe; seeds 1, about 10 mm long, not winged, narrow (longer than wide), seed 1-10 mm diam. (c. 5 mm diam.).

Distribution: West Sepik, Morobe, Western Highlands, Western, Gulf, Manus & Bougainville.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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