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

Calophyllum inophyllum L.

Species Plantarum Vol. 1: 513 (1753)

Other Literature: P.F. Stevens, Handbooks of the Flora of Papua New Guinea 80-82 (1995) Fig. 17.

Family: Clusiaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Occasional timber species

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (to 20 m high) or Small sub-canopy tree (up to 12 m high); Bole cylindrical (up to 100 cm diam.); crooked (bole mostly short, 2-5 m long); buttresses buttresses absent (trunk slightly spurred at base); spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark grey, rarely brown, or black, rough, sometimes scaly or flaky, fissured, or cracked when young; Subrhytidome (under-bark) yellow, orange, or red; less than 25 mm thick or more than 25 mm thick, 12.0-50.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; strongly aromatic; pleasant; outer blaze pale red or rarely brown, markings absent, fibrous; inner blaze pale red or rarely brown, markings absent, fibrous; bark exudate (sap) present, rarely yellow or colourless, not readily flowing (spotty), colour changing on exposure to air, to brown, 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), 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 rarely broadest below middle, (8.5-) 11.0-20.0 cm, 5.5-10.0 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, rounded, venation pinnate, secondary veins closed, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface green, upper surface 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, 12.0-20.0 mm long, diameter large (more than10 mm diam.) (15-20 mm diameter); perianth present, with all sepals and/or petals (hence tepals) similar, inner perianth white; 8, free; stamens 210-340, present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 1; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis, fruit (25.0-) 30.0-70.0 mm long, 20.0-50.0 mm diam., dark blue or brown (greyish (when dry), not spiny, non-fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, to about 5 mm long (2-4 mm long), not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed 1-10 mm diam. (2-3.5 mm diam.).

Distribution: West Sepik, East Sepik, Madang, Morobe, Western, Central, Northern, Milne Bay, Papuan Islands, New Britain, New Ireland & Bougainville.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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Notes: Notes Often included in the family Guttiferae.