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

Elaeocarpus multisectus Schltr.

Botanische Jahrbucher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie Vol. 54: 116 (1916)

Family: Elaeocarpaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Non-timber species

Field Characters: Occasionally Large canopy tree or Small sub-canopy tree (usually 15-25 m high, rarely as short as 7 m); Bole cylindrical (mostly up to c. 25 cm diam.); straight (bole up to c. 25 m long); buttresses buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots present or stilt roots absent; Bark grey or pale brown, slightly rough, slightly fissured or pustular, lenticels rounded/swelling; Subrhytidome (under-bark) red or dark brown; less than 25 mm thick, 10.0-14.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze pink or pale red, with stripes (cream-coloured), fibrous; inner blaze pink or pale red, with stripes (cream-coloured), 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) present when young, hairs dense to sparse (hairs minute).

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 to broadest below middle, 9.0-13.0 (-16.0) cm, (2.5-) 4.0-6.0 (-8.0) cm; symmetric, finely serrate to dentate (toothed), not dissected or lobed, sub acute or acuminate, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green (silvery, when young) or green, upper surface dark green, indumentum (hairs) absent or present (sometimes minute hairs persistent on lower surface), indumentum (hairs) dense or sparse; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary (on young branchlets below the leaves), flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 5.0-6.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (c. 5 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth white or cream-coloured; 5, free; stamens 25-35, present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 3; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis, fruit (13.0-) 20.0-27.0 mm long, dark blue or black, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent or dehiscent (3 sutures sometimes present), drupe; seeds 1, about 10 mm long, not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed 1-10 mm diam. (4-6 mm diam.).

Distribution: West Sepik, East Sepik, Madang, Morobe, Southern Highlands, Western, Gulf, Northern & New Britain.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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