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 philippensis Blanco var. philippensis

Flora de Filipinas 197 (1837)

Other Literature: E. Soepadmo, Flora Malesiana, Series 1, 62 (1977)

Family: Cannabaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Commercial hardwood

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to 40 m high) or Small sub-canopy tree; Bole cylindrical (usually up to 60 cm diam.); crooked (bole up to 20 m long); buttresses buttresses present (slightly buttresses up to c. 1 m high) or buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark pale grey or greyish brown, slightly rough or smooth, finely fissured or pustular, lenticels elongated vertically; Subrhytidome (under-bark) green; less than 25 mm thick, 8.0-12.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; strongly aromatic; onion-like (spring-onion odour); outer blaze yellowish brown, with stripes, fibrous; inner blaze yellowish brown, with stripes, fibrous; bark exudate (sap) absent; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.

Indumentum: Complex hairs absent; stinging hairs absent; mature twig indumentum (hairs) present when young or later absent, 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 at or near middle, (5.0-) 9.0-12.0 (-18.0) cm, (3.0-) 4.0-8.0 cm; rarely very asymmetric or symmetric (usually to slightly asymmetric), entire or crenate (distally (immature leaves), not dissected or lobed, rounded, obtuse, sub acute, or acuminate, venation trinerved, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green, upper surface dark green, 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 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, 2.0-2.5 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (2-2.5 mm diameter); 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 10.0-15.0 mm long, 12.0 (c.) mm diam., black (purplish when mature), not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, to about 5 mm long, not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed 1-10 mm diam.

Distribution: East Sepik, Madang, Morobe, Central & New Ireland.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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Notes: Notes Celtis philippensis var. wightii (Planch.) Soepadmo has slightly smaller leaves: (4-)5-7(-9) cm long, (2-)3-4(-5.5) cm wide; 1-3 pairs of veins and slightly smaller fruits 8-12 mm long, 6-10 mm diam. Note: the genus Celtis was previously classified in the separate family Ulmaceae.