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

Stemonurus ammui (Kaneh.) Sleumer

Blumea Vol. 17: 260 (1969)

Field Characters: Large trees 30-35 m high. Bole cylindrical 30-35 cm diam.; straight bole 20-25 m long; buttresses absent; spines absent; aerial roots absent; stilt roots absent. Bark grey or brown, rough, pustular; lenticels elongated vertically; subrhytidome brown; bark thickness <25 mm thick, 10.0 mm thick; blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; pleasant; outer blaze white, yellow, or mixed colours, speckled, granular with splinters; inner blaze white, yellow, or mixed colours, speckled, granular with splinters; exudate absent. Terminal buds not enclosed by leaves; complex hairs present or absent; club-shaped on stamens of male flowers; stinging hairs absent; mature twig without hairs.

Leaves: Spaced along branches <internodes readily visible>. Leaves spiral, simple; petiole present, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade <not peltate>, not swollen; lamina broadest at or near middle, 12.0-19.0 cm long, 5.5-9.5 cm wide; lamina very asymmetric, margin entire, not dissected or lobed, apex acuminate, 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 axillary <from between a leaf and branch>. Flowers on a branched axis; flowers unisexual, with male and female flowers on different plants <dioecious>, flowers stalked, with many planes of symmetry <actinomorphic>, c. 1.0 mm long, small (< or =10 mm diam.) about 1 mm diam; perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals, red; inner perianth 5, some or partly joined; stamens 0-(in female flowers, but staminodes present) or-5, filaments present, free of each other, free of perianth; ovary superior <seated above petals and sepals; hypogenous>, carpels solitary <monomerous>, locules 1; styles absent.

Fruits: Fruits arranged on branched axis. Fruit 28-35 mm long, 15.0-25.0 (fruit flattened) mm diam., fruit dark green dull, not spiny ridged, slightly fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe. Seeds 1, about 10 mm long 10-15 mm long, not winged, as wide as long flattened, 1-10 mm diam. 8-10 mm wide.

Distribution: Morobe or Bougainville.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

Notes: This genus was previously placed in the family Icacinaceae.