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

Lithocarpus vinkii Soepadmo

Reinwardtia Vol. 8: 286 (1970)

Other Literature: E. Soepadmo, Flora Malesiana, Series 1, 365 (1972)

Family: Fagaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Major exportable hardwood

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (15-30 m high) or Small sub-canopy tree; Bole cylindrical (30-70 cm diam.); straight (bole up to 25 m long); buttresses sometimes buttresses present or buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark grey or brown, rough or smooth, fissured (finely or smooth) or slightly pustular, lenticels irregular (sparse); Subrhytidome (under-bark) red or brown (streaky); less than 25 mm thick; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze pink or pale brown, markings absent; inner blaze pink or pale brown, markings absent; 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, star-like (stellate); stinging hairs absent; mature twig indumentum (hairs) present, hairs dense.

Leaves: Leaves clustered at end of 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 or rarely broadest below middle, (7.0-) 8.0-14.0 (-18.0) cm, (3.0-) 4.0-5.0 (-7.0) cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, abruptly acute or acuminate (tip sometimes oblique), venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent (8-)10-12 pairs), intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface yellow or grey, upper surface brown or grey (pale (to dark grey), indumentum (hairs) absent (above) or present (adpressed minute stellate hairs below), indumentum (hairs) dense; absent; domatia absent; stipules present, free, laterally placed, not encircling the twig, ovate leafy, not fringed, small (1-2 mm lonf), not persistent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary or leaf-opposed, flowers single (female) or flowers on an unbranched axis (male in clusters of 3s, female rarely in clusters of 2s), cones absent; flowers unisexual, unisexual with male and female flowers on the same plant, not stalked, flowers slightly asymmetric, 2.0-3.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (c. 3 mm diam.); perianth present, with all sepals and/or petals (hence tepals) similar, inner perianth pale yellow; 6, some or partly joined; stamens 10-12, present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary inferior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 2-6 (-9); styles free, 3 (-4).

Fruits: Infrutescence single or sometimes arranged on unbranched axis, fruit 15.0-25.0 mm long, pale brown, not spiny, non-fleshy, simple, indehiscent, nut; seeds 1, much more than 10 mm long (c. 15 mm long), not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed more than 10 mm diam. (c. 12 mm diam.).

Distribution: Morobe, Eastern Highlands, Southern Highlands, Western, Gulf, Central, Northern, Milne Bay & Papuan Islands.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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