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 murrayi F.Muell.

Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae 5 (1865)

Family: Lauraceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Occasional timber species

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to 33 m high) or Small sub-canopy tree; Bole cylindrical (30-35 cm diam.); straight (bole up to 25 m long); buttresses buttresses present; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark pale brown, rough, pustular, lenticels elongated vertically; Subrhytidome (under-bark) orange or brown; less than 25 mm thick, 5.0-16.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; pleasant; outer blaze pale brown, markings absent, granular without splinters; inner blaze pale brown, markings absent, 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 absent; 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 at or near middle, 10.0-26.5 cm, 8.0-12.8 cm; very asymmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, sub acute or acuminate, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface reddish green, greenish white, or pale green, upper surface dark green, indumentum (hairs) present, indumentum (hairs) dense (with reddish brown hairs); absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 4.0-6.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (4-5 mm diam.); perianth present, with all sepals and/or petals (hence tepals) similar, inner perianth yellow; 5, free; stamens 5, present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary inferior, carpels solitary, locules 1; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis, fruit 15.0-20.0 mm long, 15.0 (c.) mm diam., black or dark blue, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, much more than 10 mm long (12-16 mm long), not winged, narrow (longer than wide), seed 1-10 mm diam. (6-8 mm diam.).

Distribution: Morobe, Central, Northern, Milne Bay & New Britain.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details