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

Ziziphus angustifolia (Miq.) Hatus. ex Steenis

Nova Guinea, Botany Vol. 3: 13 (1960)

Family: Rhamnaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Non-timber species

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (15-25 m high) or Small sub-canopy tree; Bole cylindrical (15-30 cm diam.); straight (bole 6-15 m long); buttresses buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark grey or dark brown, rough, scaly or flaky, slightly fissured, or pustular, lenticels rounded/swelling; Subrhytidome (under-bark) yellow, green, or mottled; less than 25 mm thick, 4.0-6.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze white or yellow (pale (straw-coloured), markings absent; inner blaze white or yellow (pale (straw-coloured), markings absent; bark exudate (sap) present, orange (watery), not readily flowing (spotty), colour not changing on exposure to air, not sticky or slightly sticky; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.

Indumentum: Complex hairs absent; stinging hairs absent; mature twig indumentum (hairs) present or absent (pustular with lenticels), hairs sparse.

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 slightly broadest below middle, (7.0-) 10.0-18.0 cm, 3.0-6.0 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, mucronate, venation trinerved, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface green, upper surface green (glossy), indumentum (hairs) absent; absent; domatia absent; stipules present, free, laterally placed, not encircling the twig, scale-like, not fringed, small, not persistent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, flowers on a branched axis (shortly branched), cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 3.0-4.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (3-4 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth pale yellow or yellowish green; 5, free; stamens 5, present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 3; styles very short solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis, fruit 10.0-15.0 mm long, brown, not spiny, slightly fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1-2, about 10 mm long (8-10 mm long), not winged, narrow (longer than wide), seed 1-10 mm diam. (c. 5 mm diam.).

Distribution: East Sepik, Madang, Morobe, Gulf, Northern, Papuan Islands, New Britain & Bougainville.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

.