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

Vatica papuana Dyer

Family: Dipterocarpaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Occasional timber species

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to c. 30 m high) or Small sub-canopy tree (up to c. 15 m high); Bole cylindrical (up to c. 65 cm diam.); straight (bole 12-25 m long) or crooked; buttresses buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark grey, rough, scaly or flaky or slightly pustular, lenticels irregular; Subrhytidome (under-bark) green (stripes), pale yellow, or white; less than 25 mm thick, 6.0-8.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; resinous/linament-like; outer blaze pale brown or yellow (pale (straw-coloured), markings absent, fibrous; inner blaze yellow (pale (straw-coloured) or pale brown, markings absent, fibrous; bark exudate (sap) present, colourless, not readily flowing (spotty), colour not changing on exposure to air, slightly 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), simple (a leaf composed of a single blade); petiole present, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade, not swollen; leaves equally broad throughout much of length, 10.0-31.0 cm, 4.0-8.0 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, acuminate, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, not prominent, but visible, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface pale green, upper surface green, indumentum (hairs) absent; absent; domatia absent; stipules present, free, laterally placed, not encircling the twig, scale-like, not fringed, large, not persistent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers slightly asymmetric, 20.0 (c.) mm long, diameter large (more than10 mm diam.) (20- c. 35 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth yellow; 5, free; stamens 10, present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary superior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 5; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on unbranched axis, fruit 80.0 (c.) mm long, 50.0 (c.) mm diam., brown, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, much more than 10 mm long, not winged or winged (by misinterpretation (actually 1-seeded fruit winged), narrow (longer than wide) (ovoid), seed more than 10 mm diam.

Distribution: West Sepik, East Sepik, Madang, Western, Gulf, Central, Milne Bay & Papuan Islands.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details