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

Aglaia sapindina (F.Muell.) Harms

in Engler & Prantl, Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien Vol. iii (IV): 298

Other Literature: C.M. Pannell, Flora Malesiana, Series 1 283-285 (1995)

Family: Meliaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Occasional timber species Tradename: Aglaia

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to 35 m high) or Small sub-canopy tree (10-20 m high, rarely as short as 4 m); Bole cylindrical (14-45 cm diam., occasionally up to 120 cm); straight (often very short, usually at least 2 m long); buttresses buttresses present or buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark grey or reddish brown, rough or smooth, scaly or flaky (small flakes) or slightly pustular, lenticels elongated vertically or lenticels rounded/swelling (small reddish brown or black lenticels); Subrhytidome (under-bark) mottled, white, red, or yellow (pale straw-coloured); less than 25 mm thick, 5.0-10.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; unpleasant; outer blaze white, pale pink, or pale brown, markings absent, fibrous; inner blaze white, pale pink, or pale brown, markings absent, fibrous; bark exudate (sap) present, white/milky, not readily flowing (spotty), colour not changing on exposure to air, sticky; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.

Indumentum: Complex hairs present, disk-shaped (peltate) (on branchlets, leaves, flowers and fruits); 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), compound (a leaf made up from two or more leaflets); petiole present, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade, not swollen; leaves pinnate (unbranched with more than three leaflets); petiolule not swollen; rachis present, absent, absent; leaves with a terminal leaflet (the number of leaflets odd - imparipinnate), equally broad throughout much of length, (7.0-) 10.0-30.0 (-45.0) cm, (5.0-) 7.0-13.0 (-21.0) cm, leaflets opposite, symmetric, terminal developing leaflet buds straight; venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale blue-green or pale green, upper surface dark green (glossy), indumentum (hairs) present, indumentum (hairs) dense or sparse (peltate scales); absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary or on the trunk or branches (by misinterpretation below dehiscent leaves), flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 5.0 (c.) mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (5 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth pale yellow; 5, free or some or partly joined; stamens 5, present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 2; styles absent (with broad stigma sessile).

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis, fruit 10.0-20.0 mm long, 10.0-20.0 mm diam., green or brown, not spiny (moderately to densely covered with peltate scales), non-fleshy or fleshy (leathery), simple, slightly dehiscent, capsule; seeds 1-(0 or 1 seed per locule)-2, much more than 10 mm long (12-15 mm long), not winged, narrow (longer than wide), seed 1-10 mm diam. (10-15 mm diam.).

Distribution: West Sepik, East Sepik, Madang, Morobe, Western Highlands, Eastern Highlands, Southern Highlands, Western, Central, Northern, Milne Bay, Papuan Islands, New Britain, New Ireland, Manus & Bougainville.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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