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

Planchonella chartacea (Benth.) H.J.Lam

Bulletin du Jardin Botanique de Buitenzorg, Series 3 7 (1925)

Family: Sapotaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Non-timber species

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (20-42 m high); Bole cylindrical (up to c. 90 cm diam.); crooked or straight (mostly bole up to c. 15 m long); buttresses buttresses present or buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark yellow or grey, smooth (except for minute cracks); less than 25 mm thick, 18.0-20.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze pale yellow, with stripes (orange), fibrous; inner blaze pale yellow, with stripes (orange), fibrous; bark exudate (sap) present, white/milky, not readily flowing (spotty), colour not changing on exposure to air, 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) (with white exudate when damaged); petiole present, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade, not swollen; leaves broadest above middle, 6.0-77.0 cm, 2.5-3.0 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, acuminate, 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 absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, flowers single, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 12.0-15.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (c. 10 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth white, pale yellow, or cream-coloured; 5, some or partly joined; stamens 5, present, free of each other, joined to the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules (4-) 5 (-6); styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence single, fruit 12.0-20.0 mm long, dark red, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, berry; seeds 5 (c.), about 10 mm long, not winged, broad (as wide as long) (slaterally flattened), seed 1-10 mm diam.

Distribution: Morobe, Western, Gulf & Papuan Islands.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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Notes: Notes Pennington, T.D. (1991) The Genera of Sapotaceae (Royal Botanic Gardens Kew & New York Botanical Garden) reduced this species to Pouteria chartacea (Benth.) Baehni as part of Pouteria section Oligotheca. It is here maintained as Planchonella chartacea Benth. Based on the recent molecular study by Barthish, I.V., Swenson, U., Munzinger, J. and Anderberg, A.A. (2005) American Journal of Botany 92(4): 667-673.