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

Hopea papuana Diels

Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie Vol. 57: 461 (1922)

Other Literature: P.S. Ashton, Flora Malesiana, Series 1 Vol. 9: 419-420 (1982)

Field Characters: Large trees 30-35 m high. Bole cylindrical 35 cm diam.; straight bole 25 m long; buttresses present; spines absent; aerial roots absent; stilt roots absent. Bark dark brown, rough, scaly or flaky or slightly pustular; lenticels irregular; subrhytidome green or yellow; bark thickness <25 mm thick, 10.0 mm thick; blaze consisting of one layer; strongly aromatic; resinous/linament-like; outer blaze orange or yellow, markings absent, fibrous; inner blaze orange or yellow, markings absent, fibrous; exudate present, colourless, spotty, changing colour on exposure to air, to blue or purple, slightly sticky. Terminal buds not enclosed by leaves; complex hairs present; stinging hairs absent; mature twig hairy; hairs sparse.

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 broadest at or near middle, (11.0-) 16.0-24.0 (-28.0) cm long, (4.2-) 7.0-10.5 cm wide; lamina symmetric, margin entire, not dissected or lobed, apex 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 dark green, hairs absent; oil dots absent; domatia absent; stipules absent (by misinterpretation) or present not persistent, free <from one another>, laterally placed <whether free or joined>, not encircling the twig, hair-like linear, not fringed, large <easily visible to the eye> up to 12 mm long, 5 mm wide, not persistent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary <from between a leaf and branch> flowers unknown. Flowers on a branched axis; flowers presumably bisexual, shortly stalked in fruit, presumably with many planes of symmetry <actinomorphic> based on flowers of other species; perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals; inner perianth presumably 5, some or partly joined because joined at base in other species; filaments present, free of each other, free of perianth; ovary superior <seated above petals and sepals; hypogenous>, carpels joined (when more than one) <syncarpous>, locules 3; styles solitary <including joined together>, 1.

Fruits: Fruits arranged on branched axis. Fruit 10-16 mm long, 7.0-9.0 mm diam., fruit brown, not spiny, non-fleshy, simple, indehiscent, nut. Seeds 1, about 10 mm long, not winged fruits winged.

Distribution: Western, Northern, Milne Bay, Central & West Sepik.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details