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

Pterocarpus indicus Willd.

Species Plantarum, edition 4 Vol. 3: 904 (1802)

Other Literature: B. Verdcourt, A Manual of New Guinea Legumes 298-299 (1979) Fig. 66.

Family: Fabaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Major exportable hardwood Tradename: New Guinea Rosewood

Field Characters: Emergent tree (up to 40 m high), Large canopy tree (10-30 m high), or Small sub-canopy tree; Bole cylindrical (up to 250 cm diam.); often crooked or straight (bole up to 17 m long, rarely to 24 m); buttresses buttresses present (usually short, sometimes up to 4 m high); spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark yellow, brownish grey, or greenish brown, slightly rough, scaly or flaky (in thin plates) or scattered pustular, lenticels rounded/swelling; less than 25 mm thick, 5.0-6.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze white (straw- to cream-coloured) or slightly pink, markings absent; inner blaze white (straw- or cream-coloured) or slightly pink, markings absent; bark exudate (sap) present, dark red, flowing, 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), 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 with a terminal leaflet (the number of leaflets odd - imparipinnate), broadest below middle, 3.0-14.0 cm, 2.0-6.5 cm, leaflets alternate, symmetric, terminal developing leaflet buds absent; venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green, upper surface green, indumentum (hairs) absent or present (on lower surface), indumentum (hairs) dense; absent; domatia absent; stipules present, free, laterally placed, not encircling the twig, leafy, not fringed, large, not persistent.

Flowers: Inflorescence terminal or axillary, flowers on an unbranched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with one plane of symmetry, 10.0 (c.) mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth yellow or yellowish orange; 5, free; stamens 10, present, joined, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 1; styles solitary.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on unbranched axis, fruit 65.0-70.0 mm long, brown (flattened and round), not spiny, non-fleshy, simple, usually indehiscent or dehiscent, legume; seeds 1-4, much more than 10 mm long (up to c. 30 mm long), winged (fruit with a thickened central seed-bearing part and a surrounding stiff membranous wing), broad (as wide as long), seed more than 10 mm diam. (flattened, c. 40 mm wide).

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

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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Notes: Notes This species is classified in Fabaceae subfamily Faboideae.