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

Phoebe laevis Kosterm.

Reinwardtia Vol. 8: 122 (1970)

Family: Lauraceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Non-timber species

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to 40 m high); Bole cylindrical (up to 70 cm diam.); straight (bole up to 30 m long); buttresses buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark slightly red or pale brown, rough, tessellated; Subrhytidome (under-bark) dark red or brown; less than 25 mm thick, 10.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze red or brown, with stripes (pale yellowish), slightly fibrous; inner blaze red or brown, with stripes (pale yellowish), slightly fibrous; bark exudate (sap) present, colourless, not readily flowing (spotty), colour not changing on exposure to air (however, blaze changes to yellowish brown), not sticky; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.

Indumentum: Complex hairs absent; 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 sometimes broadest above middle or broadest at or near middle, 7.0-16.0 cm, 3.0-9.0 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, obtuse or sub acute, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green (sub-glossy), upper surface green (subglossy), indumentum (hairs) absent; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary (crowded below the growing point of the branchlet), flowers on a branched axis (inflorescence with long peduncle), cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked (shortly), flowers with many planes of symmetry, 3.0-4.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (3-4 mm diam.); perianth present, with all sepals and/or petals (hence tepals) similar, inner perianth pale yellow, cream-coloured, or white; 3 (inner perianth 3, outer perianth 3), free; stamens 3, present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels solitary, locules 1; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis, fruit 10.0-15.0 mm long, 10.0 (c.) mm diam., green or white, not spiny, non-fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, about 10 mm long, not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed 1-10 mm diam. (c. 8 mm diam.).

Distribution: Morobe.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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