Barry Conn (NSW) & Kipiro Damas (LAE).
Copyright held by the authors, Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, and Papua New Guinea National Herbarium

Gardenia papuana F.M.Bailey

Queensland Agriculture Journal Vol. 23: 218 (1909)

Field Characters: Large trees 20-25 m high. Bole cylindrical 40-45 cm diam.; straight; buttresses absent; spines absent; aerial roots absent; stilt roots absent. Bark pale brown, rough, pustular or tessellated; lenticels irregular; subrhytidome yellow or green; bark thickness <25 mm thick, 10.0 mm thick; blaze consisting of one layer; strongly aromatic; pleasant; outer blaze yellow, with stripes (in the form of rings), granular with splinters (brittle); inner blaze yellow, with stripes (in the form of rings), granular with splinters (brittle); exudate present, colourless, spotty, changing colour on exposure to air, to dark yellow, sticky. Terminal buds enclosed by leaves; complex hairs absent; stinging hairs absent; mature twig without hairs.

Leaves: Spaced along branches <internodes readily visible>. Leaves opposite, simple; petiole present, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade <not peltate>, not swollen; lamina broadest at or near middle, 14.0-24.0 cm long, 8.0-13.5 cm wide; lamina symmetric, margin entire, not dissected or lobed, apex slightly acuminate, venation pinnate <secondary veins arising from the midrib along its length>, secondary veins open <spaced far apart to easily see tertiary veins>, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; lower surface pale green, upper surface glossy green, hairs absent; oil dots absent; domatia present, scattered along midrib; stipules present, joined, joined across twigs <growing between opposite leaves and leaving a scar between them when they fall; interpetiolar>, encircling the twig <amplexicaul>, leafy, not fringed, large <easily visible to the eye>, persistent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary <from between a leaf and branch>. Flowers single <solitary> flowers bisexual, stalked, with many planes of symmetry <actinomorphic> perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals, white; inner perianth 5, some or partly joined; stamens 5, filaments present, free of each other, joined to perianth <epipetalous/episepalous> ovary inferior <seated below the petals and sepals; epigenous>, carpels joined (when more than one) <syncarpous> styles solitary <including joined together>, 1.

Fruits: Fruits single <solitary>. Fruit (30-) 40-50 mm long, (25.0-) 30.0-40.0 mm diam., fruit yellow, not spiny (ridged, sepals persistent), fleshy, simple, indehiscent, berry. To about 5 mm long about 3 mm long, not winged, as wide as long, 1-10 mm diam. about 3 mm diam.

Distribution: Morobe, New Britain, Papuan Islands, Central & Madang.

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