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

Prumnopitys amara (Blume) de Laub.

Blumea Vol. 24: 190 (1978)

Family: Podocarpaceae
Conifer

Timber Group: Softwood

Field Characters: Emergent tree (usually up to 45 m high) or Large canopy tree; Bole cylindrical (up to 140 cm diam.); straight; buttresses buttresses absent (may be slightly spurred at base); spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark grey (to dark grey), rough, fissured; Subrhytidome (under-bark) dark red; less than 25 mm thick, 10.0-15.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze red or brown, whitish speckled; inner blaze red or brown, whitish speckled; bark exudate (sap) absent; 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 equally broad throughout much of length, 4.0-15.0 cm, 2.0-20.0 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, acuminate, venation single-veined, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface green, upper surface dark green, indumentum (hairs) absent; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence terminal or axillary, flowers single or flowers on an unbranched axis (both male and female cones may be clustered together), cones absent (male flowers with anthers and scales in spike-like clusters, often referred to as male cones or male strobili); 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.) (1-2 mm diam.); perianth absent; stamens 1, absent, free of each other; ovary superior, carpels solitary, locules 1; styles absent.

Fruits: Infrutescence single, fruit 20.0-25.0 mm long, 20.0-25.0 mm diam., red or orange, not spiny, fleshy (slightly (with a thin fleshy layer covering a hard brown inner shell), simple, indehiscent, naked seed only; seeds 1, much more than 10 mm long (c. 20 mm long), not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed more than 10 mm diam. (c. 20 mm long).

Distribution: West Sepik, Morobe, Western Highlands, Eastern Highlands, Northern, Milne Bay, New Britain & New Ireland.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

Notes: Notes Previously known as Podocarpus amarus Bl.