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

Pometia pinnata J.R.Forster & G.Forster f. pinnata

Characteres Generum Plantarum. Edition 1 55 (1775)

Other Literature: D.B. Foreman, Checklist of the Vascular Plants of Bougainville 158-159 (1971) Fig. 159.

Family: Sapindaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Major exportable hardwood Tradename: Taun. Other vernacular name: Wild Taun

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to 40 m high); Bole cylindrical (slightly twisted, sometimes fluted near base, up to c. 30 cm diam.); straight (bole up to c. 7 m long); buttresses buttresses present; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark orange (fawnish) or red (pale pinkish), smooth; Subrhytidome (under-bark) pale red; less than 25 mm thick, 6.0-8.0; bark blaze with two layers; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze pink or brown (pale (orange-fawn), markings absent, smooth; inner blaze pink or pale brown, markings absent, fibrous; bark exudate (sap) present, colourless, not readily flowing (spotty), colour not changing on exposure to air, not 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), compound (a leaf made up from two or more leaflets); petiole present, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade, not swollen; leaves pinnate (unbranched with more than three leaflets); petiolule not swollen; rachis present, absent, absent; leaves without a terminal leaflet (the number of leaflets even - paripinnate), broadest below middle, 17.0-18.0 cm, 4.0-6.0 cm, leaflets opposite (-subopposite) or leaflets alternate, symmetric; venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green, upper surface dark green, indumentum (hairs) absent; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent (basal leaves small, clasping axis).

Flowers: Inflorescence terminal (and subterminal), flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 3.0 (c.) mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (c. 5 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth yellow or green; 5, free; stamens 5, present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 3; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis, fruit 30.0-40.0 mm long, dark red or black, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 3 (with fleshy aril), much more than 10 mm long, not winged, narrow (longer than wide).

Distribution: West Sepik, East Sepik, Madang, Morobe, Southern Highlands, Western, Gulf, Central, Northern, Milne Bay, Papuan Islands, New Britain, New Ireland & Bougainville.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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