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

Tapeinosperma magnifica Pipoly & Takeuchi

Harvard Papers in Botany Vol. 8 (2): 153-156 (2004) Fig. 1-2.

Family: Myrsinaceae
Dicotyledon

Field Characters: Small sub-canopy tree (up to 12 m high); Bole cylindrical (up to 13 cm diam.); straight (bole up to c. 8 m long); buttresses buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark pale brown, rough, pustular, lenticels elongated vertically or lenticels rounded/swelling; Subrhytidome (under-bark) dark red; less than 25 mm thick, 10.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; pleasant; outer blaze dark red, with stripes, fibrous; inner blaze dark red, with stripes, fibrous; bark exudate (sap) present, colourless, not readily flowing (spotty), colour changing on exposure to air, to dark red, sticky; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.

Indumentum: Complex hairs absent; stinging hairs absent; mature twig indumentum (hairs) present, hairs dense.

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 broadest at or near middle or equally broad throughout much of length, (27.0-) 30.0-44.0 cm, (11.0-) 12.0-16.5 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, obtuse or sub acuminate, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface green, upper surface dark green, indumentum (hairs) present, indumentum (hairs) dense or usually sparse; present (conspicuously punctate); domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence terminal, flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 7.0-8.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (c. 8 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth purple; 5, some or partly joined; stamens 5, present, joined (staminal column c. 1.5 mm long), free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one); styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis, fruit 5.0-7.0 mm long, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, to about 5 mm long (c. 5 mm long), not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed 1-10 mm diam. (c. 5 mm diam.).

Distribution: Morobe (Known only from the area around Lae municipality).

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details