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

Pometia pinnata J.R.Forster & G.Forster f. pinnata

Characteres Generum Plantarum. Edition 1 55 (1775)

Other Literature: D.B. Foreman, Checklist of the Vascular Plants of Bougainville 158-159 (1971) Fig. 159.

Tradename: Taun. Other vernacular name: Wild Taun

Field Characters: Large trees up to 40 m high. Bole cylindrical (slightly twisted, sometimes fluted near base, up to c. 30 cm diam.); straight (bole up to c. 7 m long); buttresses present; spines absent; aerial roots absent; stilt roots absent. Bark orange (fawnish) or pale red (pinkish), smooth; subrhytidome pale red; bark thickness <25 mm thick, 6.0-8.0 mm thick; blaze consisting of 2 layers; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze pink or pale brown (orange-fawn), markings absent, smooth; inner blaze pink or pale brown, markings absent, fibrous; exudate present, colourless, spotty, not changing colour on exposure to air, not 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, compound; petiole present, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade <not peltate>, not swollen; leaves pinnate; petiolule not swollen; rachis present, not winged, not swollen; leaves without a terminal leaflet, each leaflet broadest below middle, 17.0-18.0 cm long, 4.0-6.0 cm wide, leaflets opposite (-subopposite) or leaflets alternate, symmetric; 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 (basal leaves small, clasping axis).

Flowers: Inflorescence terminal <at branch ends> (and subterminal). Flowers on a branched axis; flowers bisexual, stalked, with many planes of symmetry <actinomorphic>, c. 3.0 mm long, small (< or =10 mm diam.) c. 5 mm diam.; perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals, yellow or green; inner perianth 5, free; stamens 5, 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 30-40 mm long, dark red or black, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe. Seeds 3 (with fleshy aril), much more than 10 mm long, not winged, longer than wide.

Distribution: West Sepik, East Sepik, Madang, Morobe, Southern Highlands, Western, Gulf, Central, Northern, Milne Bay, Papuan Islands, New Britain, New Ireland & Bougainville.

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