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

Pittosporum ramiflorum Zoll. ex Miq.

Fl. Ind. Bat. Vol. 2: 122 (1859)

Field Characters: Large trees 15-20 m high. Bole cylindrical 10 cm diam.; straight bole 8-12 m long; buttresses absent; spines absent; aerial roots absent; stilt roots absent. Bark dark brown or black, rough, slightly fissured or pustular; lenticels irregular; subrhytidome pale yellow cream-coloured or white; bark thickness <25 mm thick, 5.0 mm thick; blaze consisting of 2 layers; strongly aromatic; unpleasant; outer blaze yellow or orange, markings absent, granular without splinters; inner blaze pale yellow or orange cream-coloured but slightly darker than outer blaze, markings absent, fibrous; exudate present, colourless, flowing, changing colour on exposure to air, to dark green or black, 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 13-20 mm long, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade <not peltate>, not swollen; lamina broadest above middle or broadest at or near middle, 7.5-9.5 cm long, 4.0-5.0 cm wide; lamina symmetric, margin entire, not dissected or lobed, apex mucronate, venation pinnate <secondary veins arising from the midrib along its length>, secondary veins open <spaced far apart to easily see tertiary veins>, not prominent, but visible, intramarginal veins absent; lower surface pale green, upper surface green, hairs absent; oil dots absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence on the trunk or branches <cauliflorous-ramiflorous> or leaf-opposed <arising opposite a leaf, not between a leaf and a branch>. Flowers on a branched axis; flowers bisexual, stalked.

Fruits: Fruits arranged on branched axis. Fruit 10-16 mm long, 8.0-13.0 mm diam., fruit dull orange or purple when mature, not spiny, fleshy, simple, dehiscent, capsule. Seeds 1 (dark red), about 10 mm long 8-10 mm long, not winged, longer than wide, 1-10 mm diam. about 7 mm diam.

Distribution: Eastern Highlands.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details