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

Sloanea tieghemi (F.Muell) A.C.Sm.

Journal of the Arnold Arboretum Vol. 25: 293 (1944)

Family: Elaeocarpaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Occasional timber species

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to 30 m high) or Small sub-canopy tree (up to 25 m high); Bole cylindrical (mostly to c. 80 cm diam.); crooked (bole 6-10 m long); buttresses buttresses present (buttresses up to c. 2.5 m high); spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark brown, slightly rough or smooth, pustular, scattered lenticels irregular; Subrhytidome (under-bark) green; less than 25 mm thick, 5.0-6.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze pale brown, markings absent, slightly fibrous or granular without splinters; inner blaze pale brown, markings absent, slightly fibrous or granular without splinters; bark exudate (sap) present, colourless, not readily flowing (spotty), colour not changing on exposure to air, 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, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade, swollen (at both base and tip); leaves broadest at or near middle, 9.0-13.0 cm, 6.0-8.0 cm; symmetric, crenate, not dissected or lobed, acute, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface green, upper surface green, indumentum (hairs) absent; absent; domatia present, scattered along midrib; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, flowers single, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 15.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth green; 5, some or partly joined; stamens 100, present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 4; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on unbranched axis, fruit 30.0-45.0 (-55.0) mm long, pale brown, spiny, non-fleshy, simple, dehiscent, capsule; seeds 4-5, barely visible (to 1 mm long) (1-2 mm long), not winged, narrow (longer than wide), seed 1-10 mm diam. (c. 1 mm diam.).

Distribution: Morobe.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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