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

Weinmannia trichophora L.M.Perry

Journal of the Arnold Arboretum Vol. 30: 161 (1949)

Field Characters: Large trees 20 m high. Bole cylindrical 20 cm diam.; straight bole 15 m long; buttresses absent; spines absent; aerial roots absent; stilt roots absent. Bark pale brown, slightly rough, pustular; lenticels elongated vertically; subrhytidome green; bark thickness <25 mm thick, 5.0 mm thick; blaze faintly consisting of 2 layers; faintly to non-aromatic; unpleasant; outer blaze brown or pale red, with stripes, fibrous; inner blaze red or brown, with stripes, fibrous; exudate present, colourless, spotty, changing colour on exposure to air, to pale red or pale brown, not sticky. Terminal buds not enclosed by leaves; complex hairs absent; stinging hairs absent; mature twig hairy; hairs sparse or usually hairs dense.

Leaves: Spaced along branches <internodes readily visible>. Leaves opposite, 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 with a terminal leaflet, each leaflet broadest at or near middle, 8.0-17.0 cm long, 5.0-8.0 cm wide, leaflets opposite, symmetric, terminal developing leaflet buds straight; 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 dark green, hairs absent; oil dots absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence terminal <at branch ends> or axillary <from between a leaf and branch> at distil nodes. Flowers on an unbranched axis; flowers bisexual, stalked 1.5 mm long, with many planes of symmetry <actinomorphic>, 2.0-2.5 mm long, small (< or =10 mm diam.) 3 mm diam.; perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals, white or pale yellow cream-coloured; inner perianth 4, free; stamens 8, filaments present, free of each other, free of perianth; ovary superior <seated above petals and sepals; hypogenous> densely hairy, carpels joined (when more than one) <syncarpous>, locules 2; styles free <more than one style, entirely free from each other> only joined at base, 2.

Fruits: Fruits arranged on unbranched axis. Fruit 4-5 (-7) mm long, 1.5-2.0 mm diam., fruit red, not spiny, non-fleshy, simple, dehiscent, capsule. Seeds 2, to about 5 mm long 2 mm long, not winged, longer than wide, 1-10 mm diam. about 1 mm diam.

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

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

Notes: There is a form that tends to have larger leaflets (15-25 mm long, 8-11 mm wide) that occurs in the Western Highlands (Flenley ANU 2337, <Flenley ANU2391 and Robbins 191), with one collection from the Cromwell Ranges (Morobe province) (Hoogland 9668). These plants appear to have slightly larger fruits and have leaves that are less hairy than the more widespread smaller leaflet variant. The larger leaflet variant has hairs restricted to the mid vein of the lower surface, whereas the smaller leaflet variant is densely hairy on lower surface, with hairs extending over the mid vein and the lamina surface. However, smaller leaflets are sometimes also present on these plants. Likewise, the density of hairs on the leaflets may be more variable because sparsely hairy leaflets occasionally occur in the smaller leaflet variant (for example, in the East Sepik province - Hoogland & Craven 10952 and Waikabu LAE 50567). Further field studies are required to evaluate the taxonomic importance of these larger leaflet variants.