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

Hibiscus pulvinulifer Borss.Waalk.

Family: Malvaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Occasional timber species

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to 35 m high); Bole cylindrical (up to c. 50 cm diam.); straight (bole up to c. 25 m long); buttresses buttresses present (with short buttresses) or buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark grey or brown, rough, scaly or flaky or slightly fissured; Subrhytidome (under-bark) green; less than 25 mm thick; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze white or yellow (pale (straw-coloured), markings absent or slightly speckled, fibrous; inner blaze white or yellow (pale (straw-coloured), markings absent or slightly speckled, fibrous; 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, disk-shaped (peltate) (dense); stinging hairs absent; mature twig indumentum (hairs) absent.

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, 9.5-17.0 cm, (6.0-) 9.0-13.0 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, acuminate (shortly), venation pinnate or at base palmate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green, upper surface dark green (dull (usually), indumentum (hairs) absent (but densely covered with peltate scales); absent; domatia present, scattered along midrib; stipules present, free, laterally placed, not encircling the twig, leafy, not fringed, large, not persistent.

Flowers: Inflorescence terminal or axillary (in distil axils), flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 12.0-15.0 mm long, diameter large (more than10 mm diam.) (12-15 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls (with sepals 5-lobed), inner perianth white, yellow (pale (outside), or pink (often finely speckled with red); 5, free; stamens 100, present (of varing lengths), joined (forming a staminal tube around the style), free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 5; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis, fruit 15.0 (c.) mm long, green (probably immature) or brown (presumably (pale to straw-coloured), not spiny, non-fleshy, simple, dehiscent, capsule; seeds 100.

Distribution: Central, Northern & Milne Bay.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details