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

Xanthophyllum papuanum Whitmore ex Meijden

Journal of the Linnean Society. Botany Vol. 67 Part. 2: 119 (1973)

Family: Polygalaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Minor hardwood

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (20-30 m high); Bole cylindrical (c. 70 cm diam.); straight (bole c. 20 m long); buttresses buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark grey, rough, coarsely pustular, lenticels irregular; Subrhytidome (under-bark) green; less than 25 mm thick, 20.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; faintly pleasant; outer blaze yellow or yellowish orange, speckled, granular without splinters; inner blaze yellow or yellowish orange, speckled, granular without splinters; 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 below middle, 7.5-11.0 cm, 4.2-7.0 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, acute, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, not prominent, but visible, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green, upper surface dark green (glossy), indumentum (hairs) absent; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, flowers on an unbranched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked (shortly), flowers with one plane of symmetry, 7.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (c. 5 mm diameter); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth white or yellow (pale (cream-coloured); 5, free; stamens 5, present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 1; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis, fruit 80.0-110.0 mm long, 80.0-110.0 mm diam., dull green or greenish blue, not spiny, non-fleshy, simple, dehiscent, capsule; seeds 3 (yellow), about 10 mm long or much more than 10 mm long (14-16 mm long), not winged, narrow (longer than wide) (angular), seed 1-10 mm diam. (8-10 mm wide).

Distribution: East Sepik, Madang, Morobe, Eastern Highlands, Southern Highlands, Western, Central, Milne Bay & Papuan Islands.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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Notes: Notes Xanthophyllum was previously classified as part of the family Xanthophyllaceae.