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

Chisocheton cumingianus (C.DC.)Harms

in Engler & Prantl, Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien Vol. 3 (4): 296 (1896)

Other Literature: D.J. Mabberley & A.M. Sing, Flora Malesiana, Series 1 164-166 (1995) Fig. 24.

Family: Meliaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Commercial hardwood

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to 37 m high); Bole markedly fluted (trunk may be flutted up to 10 m from base; trunk up to 150 cm diam.); crooked (bole up to 14 m long) or straight; buttresses buttresses present (buttresses up to 2 m high, rarely to 3 m); spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark grey or slightly brown, rough, scaly or flaky or slightly pustular, lenticels rounded/swelling (scattered); Subrhytidome (under-bark) yellowish white; less than 25 mm thick, 10.0-12.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze white or pale yellow, markings absent, fibrous; inner blaze white or pale yellow, markings absent, fibrous; bark exudate (sap) present, colourless, not readily flowing (spotty), colour not changing on exposure to air, not sticky; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.

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

Leaves: Leaves spaced along branches, spiral (leaves occurring singly at a node and arranged spirally up the branchlet), compound (a leaf made up from two or more leaflets); petiole present, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade, at base swollen; leaves pinnate (unbranched with more than three leaflets); petiolule not swollen; rachis present, absent; leaves with a terminal leaflet (the number of leaflets odd - imparipinnate), equally broad throughout much of length, (6.0-) 10.0-30.0 (-42.0) cm, (2.0-) 5.0-10.0 (-14.0) cm, leaflets opposite, symmetric, terminal developing leaflet buds curled back on itself; venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green, upper surface green, indumentum (hairs) absent; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary (to supra-axillary), flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers unisexual or bisexual, unisexual with male and female flowers on different plants, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 12.0-20.0 (-25.0) mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (8-10 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth white or pale yellow; 3-5, some or partly joined; stamens 6-9, absent, joined (to form a staminal tube), free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 3-4; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis, fruit 70.0-80.0 mm long, red or brown, not spiny, slightly fleshy, simple, indehiscent or slightly dehiscent, capsule; seeds 3-4, much more than 10 mm long (c. 50 mm long), not winged, narrow (longer than wide), seed more than 10 mm diam. (c. 30 mm diam.).

Distribution: Madang, Morobe, Western Highlands, Central, Northern, Milne Bay, New Britain & Manus.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

Notes: Notes Although this species consists of two subspecies, only subsp. cumingianus occurs in Papua New Guinea.