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

Goniothalamus aruensis Scheffer

Annales du Jardin Botanique de Buitenzorg Vol. 2: 26 (1885)

Field Characters: Small trees 4-15 m high. Bole cylindrical 30-50 cm diam.; straight bole 3-4 m long; buttresses absent; spines absent; aerial roots absent; stilt roots absent. Bark brown, slightly rough or usually smooth, slightly pustular; lenticels irregular; subrhytidome pale brown straw-coloured or green; bark thickness <25 mm thick, 10.0 mm thick; blaze consisting of one layer; strongly aromatic; pleasant; outer blaze pale brown, with stripes, fibrous; inner blaze pale brown, with stripes, fibrous; exudate present, colourless, spotty, changing colour on exposure to air, to brown, sticky. Terminal buds not enclosed by leaves; complex hairs absent; stinging hairs absent; mature twig without hairs.

Leaves: Spaced along branches <internodes readily visible>. Leaves spiral, simple; petiole present, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade <not peltate>, not swollen; lamina equally broad throughout much of length, 16.0-30.0 cm long, (5.0-) 7.0-12.0 cm wide; lamina symmetric, margin entire, not dissected or lobed, apex sub acute or obtuse, 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 dark green, hairs absent; oil dots absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence on the trunk or branches <cauliflorous-ramiflorous>. Flowers on an unbranched axis; flowers bisexual, stalked, with many planes of symmetry <actinomorphic>, 20.0-40.0 mm long, large (>10 mm diam.) 30-40 mm diam.; perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals sepals (outer perianth) more or less triangular, yellow or brown; inner perianth 3, free; stamens 100, filaments present, free of each other, free of perianth; ovary superior <seated above petals and sepals; hypogenous>, carpels separate (when more than one) <apocarpous>, locules 1 (per carpel); styles free <more than one style, entirely free from each other>, 1 (per carpel).

Fruits: Fruits arranged on unbranched axis in clusters along trunk. Fruit 30-50 mm long, 10.0-15.0 mm diam., fruit dull red pointed at both ends, broadest near middle, not spiny, slightly fleshy leathery, aggregate but fertilised carpels not joining together to form a single fruit, indehiscent, berry 1 seed per carpel. Seeds 1, much more than 10 mm long 15-25 mm long, not winged, longer than wide, 1-10 mm diam. about 10 mm diam.

Distribution: Western, New Britain, Papuan Islands, Milne Bay, Gulf, Morobe, Southern Highlands, Eastern Highlands, Western Highlands, East Sepik, West Sepik, Madang & Central.

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