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

Quintinia altigena Schltr.

Botanische Jahrbucher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie Vol. 52: 127 (1914)

Family: Quintiniaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Non-timber species

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (8-25 m high) or Small sub-canopy tree; Bole cylindrical (up to 80 cm diam., rarely to 100 cm); straight (bole up to 17 m long); buttresses buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots present; Bark slightly red or reddish brown, mostly smooth; Subrhytidome (under-bark) orange or green; less than 25 mm thick, 3.0-5.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze pink or brown, with stripes (darker pink), fibrous; inner blaze pink or brown, with stripes (darker pink), fibrous; 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 absent; stinging hairs absent; mature twig indumentum (hairs) absent.

Leaves: Leaves spaced along branches, sub opposite (in pairs, opposite one another on the branchlet) or spiral (leaves occurring singly at a node and arranged spirally up the branchlet), simple (a leaf composed of a single blade) (aromatic); petiole present, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade, not swollen; leaves broadest above middle, (4.5-) 8.0-10.0 (-15.0) cm, 3.0-5.0 (-5.5) cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, rarely emarginate or retuse, obtuse, or acuminate (shortly), venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface green, upper surface dark green (glossy), indumentum (hairs) absent; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, flowers on an unbranched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 3.0-4.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (3-5 mm diameter); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth white; 4, free; stamens 4, present, free of each other, free of the perianth (joined at base of corolla); ovary inferior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 5; styles free, 5.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on unbranched axis, fruit 4.0-(including persistent sepals)-8.0 mm long, 5.0 (c.) mm diam., green or grey, not spiny, non-fleshy, simple, dehiscent, capsule; seeds 20-(many)-100, to about 5 mm long (1.5-2 mm long), not winged, narrow (longer than wide), seed less than 1 mm diam. (c. 0.5 mm diam.).

Distribution: West Sepik, East Sepik, Morobe, Western Highlands, Eastern Highlands, Southern Highlands & Milne Bay.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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Notes: Notes High altitude species, above 1800 m elevation. Formerly placed in the family Saxifragaceae, Grossulariaceae or Escalloniaceae.