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

Myristica hooglandii J.Sinclair

Gardens' Bulletin, Singapore Vol. 23: 156 (1968) Fig. 7.

Other Literature: D.B. Foreman, Handbooks of the Flora of Papua New Guinea 200 (1978) Fig. 89.

Family: Myristicaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Commercial hardwood

Field Characters: Occasionally Large canopy tree or Small sub-canopy tree (up to 27 m high); Bole cylindrical (up to c. 40 cm diam.); straight (bole up to c. 20 m long); buttresses buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark grey or dark brown, rough, fissured; Subrhytidome (under-bark) brown; less than 25 mm thick, 5.0-10.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze red or brown, markings absent; inner blaze red or brown, markings absent; bark exudate (sap) present, colourless, flowing or not readily flowing (spotty), colour changing on exposure to air, to brown or red, slightly sticky; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.

Indumentum: Complex hairs absent; stinging hairs absent; mature twig indumentum (hairs) present or absent, hairs dense to sparse when young.

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 equally broad throughout much of length, (15.0-) 22.0-42.0 cm, (3.0-) 6.0-11.0 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, acute, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green, upper surface dark green (glossy), indumentum (hairs) absent to present, indumentum (hairs) dense to sparse; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers unisexual, unisexual with male and female flowers on different plants, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 13.0-16.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.); perianth present, with all sepals and/or petals (hence tepals) similar, inner perianth yellow to cream-coloured (aromatic); 2-3 (-5), some or partly joined; stamens 8-30, absent, joined, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 1; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis, fruit 60.0-70.0 mm long, yellow to orange to brown (with brown hairs), not spiny, fleshy, simple, dehiscent, capsule (2-valved); seeds 1, much more than 10 mm long, not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed more than 10 mm diam.

Distribution: Morobe, Central, Northern, Milne Bay, Papuan Islands, Manus.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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