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

Celtis hildebrandii Soepadmo

Flora Malesiana, Series 1 Vol. 8: 63-65 (1977) Fig. 20-23.

Family: Cannabaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Non-timber species

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to 40 m high, rarely to 45 m); Bole cylindrical (up to c. 100 cm diam.); straight; buttresses buttresses present (buttresses up to 2.8 m high); spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark grey or pale brown, slightly rough or smooth, finely fissured or often pustular, lenticels rounded/swelling; Subrhytidome (under-bark) green; less than 25 mm thick, 10.0-14.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze white or yellow (pale (cream-coloured), speckled (red-brown); inner blaze white or yellow (pale (cream-coloured), speckled (red-brown); bark exudate (sap) present, colourless, flowing or not readily flowing (spotty), colour changing on exposure to air, to black or purple (after some time), not sticky or slightly sticky; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.

Indumentum: Complex hairs absent; stinging hairs absent; mature twig indumentum (hairs) present, hairs dense to 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 below middle, (5.0-) 8.0-11.0 (-14.0) cm, (3.0-) 4.0-6.0 (-8.0) cm; mostly very asymmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, acute to acuminate, venation distally pinnate or at base trinerved, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface green, upper surface dark green (glossy), indumentum (hairs) absent; absent; domatia absent; stipules present, free (peltately attached, overlapping), laterally placed, not encircling the twig, leafy, not fringed, large, persistent.

Flowers: Inflorescence terminal (sub (on new shoots) or axillary, flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers unisexual, unisexual with male and female flowers on the same plant, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 2.0-3.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.); perianth present, with all sepals and/or petals (hence tepals) similar, inner perianth pale yellow; 5, free; stamens 5, present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 1; styles absent.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis, fruit 10.0-12.0 mm long, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, about 10 mm long, not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed 1-10 mm diam.

Distribution: West Sepik, East Sepik, Madang, Morobe, Western, Northern, Milne Bay, New Britain & Bougainville.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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Notes: Notes The genus Celtis was previously classified in the separate family Ulmaceae.