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

Terminalia solomonensis Exell

Journal of Botany Vol. 73: 132 (1935)

Other Literature: M.J.E. Coode, Handbooks of the Flora of Papua New Guinea 105 (1978) Fig. 22-48.

Family: Combretaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Major exportable hardwood

Field Characters: Emergent tree or Large canopy tree (up to 40 m high); Bole cylindrical or markedly fluted (sometimes up to c. 0.7 m diam.); straight (bole up to c. 25 m long); buttresses often buttresses present or usually buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark occasionally red, usually grey, or usually brown, slightly rough or smooth, scaly or flaky (thin and papery, shed in long rectangular plates up to 1 m long); Subrhytidome (under-bark) dark red; less than 25 mm thick (c. 8 mm thick), (6.0-) 10.0-20.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze pink or red (dark turning red brown), markings absent, fibrous; inner blaze dark red, markings absent, fibrous; 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 clustered at end of 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, 10.0-18.0 cm, (5.0-) 6.0-9.0 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, obtuse, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green, upper surface dark green, indumentum (hairs) absent or sometimes present, indumentum (hairs) sparse; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, flowers on an unbranched axis, cones absent; flowers unisexual and bisexual, unisexual with male and female flowers on the same plant, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 3.0 (c.) mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.); perianth present, with all sepals and/or petals (hence tepals) similar, inner perianth green; 5, some or partly joined; stamens 5, present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary inferior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 1; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on unbranched axis, fruit 40.0-50.0 mm long, red, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, much more than 10 mm long, not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed 1-10 mm diam.

Distribution: Madang, Morobe, Central (possibly), New Britain & New Ireland.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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Notes: Notes One flowering collection (NGF17706) from Laloki River is thought to probably be this species. Flowering plants of Terminalia solomonensis, T. megalocarpa and T. eddowesii are difficult to distinguish from each other; however, they all have very distinctive fruits.