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

Cryptocarya giganthocarpa Kosterm.

Reinwardtia Vol. 7: 309 (1968)

Family: Lauraceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Occasional timber species

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (30 m high); Bole cylindrical (up to 100 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 dark brown, rough, pustular, lenticels elongated vertically; Subrhytidome (under-bark) brown; less than 25 mm thick, 15.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze orange or brown, with stripes, granular without splinters; inner blaze orange or brown, with stripes, granular without splinters; bark exudate (sap) present, colourless, not readily flowing (spotty), colour not changing on exposure to air, not sticky; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.

Indumentum: Complex hairs present, star-like (stellate); stinging hairs absent; mature twig indumentum (hairs) present, 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 below middle, 12.0-23.0 cm, 7.5-10.0 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, acuminate, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green or red (slightly (caused by reddish brown hairs), upper surface green, indumentum (hairs) present (with rusty-coloured hairs), indumentum (hairs) dense; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 5.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (c. 5 mm diameter); perianth present, with all sepals and/or petals (hence tepals) similar, inner perianth yellow or green (yellowish green); 5, free; stamens 5, present, free of each other, joined to the perianth; ovary superior, carpels solitary, locules 1 (per carpel); styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis, fruit not spiny, slightly fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, not winged, broad (as wide as long).

Distribution: Morobe.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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