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

Siphonodon celastrineus Griff.

Calcutta Journal of Natural History, and Miscellany of the Arts and Sciences in India Vol. 4: 247 (1844)

Other Literature: J.J. Havel, Forest Botany, Part 2 Botanical Taxonomy 160 (1975) Fig. 44.

Family: Celastraceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Minor hardwood Tradename: Ivorywood

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (15-30 m high); Bole markedly fluted (30-50 cm diam.); crooked or straight (bole 15-25 m long); buttresses buttresses present (rarely buttresses up to 1.5 m high) or buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark grey, greyish brown, or rarely black, rough or rarely smooth, slightly pustular, rarely scaly or flaky, fissured, or cracked, lenticels rounded/swelling; Subrhytidome (under-bark) white or yellow; less than 25 mm thick, 9.0-10.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; strongly aromatic; unpleasant; outer blaze yellow, with stripes, granular with splinters; inner blaze yellow, with stripes, fibrous; 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 rarely broadest below middle, (4.0-) 9.0-11.0 (-23.0) cm, (3.5-) 5.0-6.0 (-9.0) cm; symmetric, serrate to dentate (toothed), not dissected or lobed, sub acute, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, not prominent, but visible, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green or green, upper surface dull green, indumentum (hairs) absent; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, flowers arising from a single point, cones absent; flowers unisexual, unisexual with male and female flowers on the same plant, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry (Check!), 3.0 (c.) mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (3-5 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth white; 5, free; stamens 5, present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 5; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arising from single point, fruit 25.0-40.0 (-60.0) mm long, 20.0-60.0 mm diam., yellow when mature or yellowish green, not spiny, non-fleshy, simple, indehiscent, berry; seeds 100, barely visible (to 1 mm long), not winged, narrow (longer than wide), seed less than 1 mm diam.

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

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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