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

Prunus schlechteri (Koehne) Kalkman

Blumea Vol. 13: 79 (1965)

Other Literature: C. Kalkman, Flora Malesiana, Series 1 345-346 (1993)

Family: Rosaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Occasional timber species

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to 47 m high) or Small sub-canopy tree (up to 20 m high); Bole cylindrical (up to c. 75 cm diam.); straight (bole mostly 10-20 m long); buttresses buttresses present (sometimes buttresses 0.3-0.4 m high) or buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark grey or brown (often dark brown), rough, pustular, lenticels elongated vertically; Subrhytidome (under-bark) brown, red, or green; less than 25 mm thick, 7.0-15.0 (-20.0); bark blaze consisting of one layer; strongly aromatic; almond-like (sometimes described as similar to the odour of benzoic acid); outer blaze red (pale (sometimes dark red) or slightly brown, with stripes, very fibrous; inner blaze red (pale (sometimes dark red) or slightly brown, with stripes, very fibrous; bark exudate (sap) present or absent, colourless, not readily flowing (spotty), colour changing on exposure to air, to dark red, not sticky; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.

Indumentum: Complex hairs absent; stinging hairs absent; mature twig indumentum (hairs) present, hairs dense.

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 sometimes equally broad throughout much of length, 6.0-17.0 (-20.0) cm, (2.0-) 3.0-8.0 (-10.0) cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, obtuse, sub acute, or acuminate, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green, upper surface dull green, indumentum (hairs) absent (upper surface of old leaves) or present, indumentum (hairs) sparse (lower surface); absent or present (when present, 2-6 flat basal glands); domatia absent; stipules present, free, laterally placed, not encircling the twig, scale-like, fringed (hairy over entire surface), large (c. 6 mm long, c. 4 mm wide at base), not persistent.

Flowers: Inflorescence on the trunk or branches, flowers on an unbranched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked (shortly), flowers with many planes of symmetry, 6.0-10.0 mm long, diameter large (more than10 mm diam.) (c. 15 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth yellowish green or yellow (pale (cream-coloured); 7-13, free or some or partly joined (by misinterpretation (sepals and petals joined to mouth of floral tube); stamens 15-40, present, free of each other, free of the perianth or joined to the perianth (by misinterpretation (stamens joined to mouth of floral tube, separate from the petals and sepals); ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one); styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on unbranched axis, fruit 9.0-16.0 mm long, 14.0-16.0 mm diam., dark red, black, or purple, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1-2, to about 5 mm long, not winged, broad (as wide as long) (testa hairy), seed 1-10 mm diam. (c. 4 mm diam.).

Distribution: West Sepik, East Sepik, Madang, Morobe, Western Highlands, Eastern Highlands, Southern Highlands, Western, Central, Milne Bay, New Ireland & Bougainville.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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