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

Schizomeria serrata Hochr.

Annuaire du Conservatoire du Jardin Botaniques de Genève 118 (1907)

Other Literature: M.M.J. van Balgooy, Malesian Seed Plants 88-89 (1998) Fig. 46.

Family: Cunoniaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Occasional timber species Tradename: Pink Birch

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to 30 m high); Bole cylindrical (to sometimes slightly fluted, 30-40 cm diam., sometimes to 60 cm); straight (bole up to 25 m long); buttresses buttresses present (buttresses up to 1 m high); spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark dark brown, rough, slightly pustular or slightly fissured, lenticels elongated vertically; Subrhytidome (under-bark) dark red; less than 25 mm thick, 12.0-15.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; strongly aromatic or faintly to non-aromatic; pleasant; outer blaze red or brown, with stripes, fibrous; inner blaze red or brown, with stripes, fibrous; bark exudate (sap) present, colourless or red, flowing, colour changing on exposure to air (immediately) or colour not changing on exposure to air, to red, 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, opposite (in pairs, opposite one another on the branchlet), simple (a leaf composed of a single blade); petiole present, winged, attached to base of leaf blade, not swollen; leaves broadest at or near middle, (7.0-) 9.0-18.0 cm, (3.5-) 5.0-9.0 cm; symmetric, crenate, not dissected or lobed, rounded or obtuse, 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 present, free, joined across twigs, not encircling the twig, scale-like, not fringed, small, not persistent.

Flowers: Inflorescence terminal or axillary, flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 4.0-5.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (c. 5 mm diameter); perianth present, with all sepals and/or petals (hence tepals) similar, inner perianth white; 5, free; stamens 10, present, free of each other, free of the perianth (joined to disc at base of perianth); ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 5-6; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis, fruit 15.0-20.0 mm long, 10.0 (c.) mm diam., cream-coloured, pale red, or brown, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, about 10 mm long, not winged, narrow (longer than wide), seed 1-10 mm diam. (6-8 mm diam.).

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

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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