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

Agathis robusta (F.Muell.) F.M.Bailey var. nesophila Whitmore

A Synopsis of the Queensland Flora 498 (1883)

Other Literature: J.J. Havel, Forest Botany, Part 2 Botanical Taxonomy 22 (1975) Fig. 3-4.

Family: Araucariaceae
Conifer

Timber Group: Softwood Tradename: Kauri Pine

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to 30 m high); Bole cylindrical (up to 200 cm diam.); straight (up to 20 m long); buttresses buttresses present; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark grey to brown, slightly rough or smooth, scattered scaly or flaky; bark exudate (sap) present, white/milky, not readily flowing (spotty), colour not changing on exposure to air, sticky; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.

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

Leaves: Leaves spaced along branches, 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); petiole absent or present (c. 2 mm long), not winged, attached to base of leaf blade, not swollen; leaves broadest at or near middle, 5.0-8.0 cm, 1.5-2.5 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, obtuse or acute, venation parallel-veined, secondary veins closed, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface green, upper surface dark green, indumentum (hairs) absent; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence terminal (female flowering cones) or axillary (female flowering cones, with female flowers inserted on blunt scales, hence axillary; male flowers in axillary spikes), flowers on an unbranched axis, flowers arranged in a cone (strobilus); flowers unisexual, unisexual with male and female flowers on the same plant, not stalked, flowers slightly asymmetric, 2.0-(male flowers; female flowers)-10.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (2-3 mm diam.); perianth absent; stamens 2-(reduced to pollen sacs on undersurface of scales)-5, present, free of each other; ovary superior, carpels solitary, locules 1; styles absent.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on unbranched axis, arrangement of fruits present, cone 80.0-105.0 mm, 80.0-105.0 mm, green or brown; seeds 100, about 10 mm long or much more than 10 mm long, winged (one wing c. 25 mm long), narrow (longer than wide), seed 1-10 mm diam.

Distribution: Morobe, Western Highlands, Central & New Britain.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

.