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

Rapanea brassii P.Royen

Alpine Flora of New Guinea Vol. 3: 1 979-1 982 (1982)

Family: Myrsinaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Non-timber species

Field Characters: Small sub-canopy tree (3-15 m high); Bole cylindrical; crooked or straight; buttresses buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark pale brown, slightly rough or smooth, slightly pustular, lenticels rounded/swelling; Subrhytidome (under-bark) green; less than 25 mm thick; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze pale orange or pink, markings absent; inner blaze pale orange or pink, markings absent; 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 above middle, (1.0-) 1.5-2.5 (-3.8) cm, 0.8-1.5 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, often emarginate or retuse or rounded, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green, upper surface dark green (glossy), indumentum (hairs) absent; present (with round and elongate dark oil dots, and with scattered red-brown scales); domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, flowers on an unbranched axis or sometimes flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, not stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 1.3-2.0 (-3.0) mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (c. 1.5 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth red or purple; 4, some or partly joined; stamens 4, absent (by misinterpretation) or present (very short, less than 0.5 mm long), free of each other, joined to the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 4-6; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on unbranched axis, fruit 2.0-3.0 mm long, dark blue or purple, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, to about 5 mm long (c. 2 mm long), not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed 1-10 mm diam. (c. 2 mm diam.).

Distribution: West Sepik, Morobe, Western Highlands, Eastern Highlands & Southern Highlands.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details