Levieria beccariana
Content
Description
Tree to 20 m, or shrub, sometimes semi-scandent;
Dioecious.
Leaves chartaceous, broadly to narrowly obovate or elliptic, 6-15 by 2.6-7 cm;
Inflorescence of terminal and axillary panicles, those in the upper axils often combining to form a massive compound leafy panicle, the male rather more finely branched than the female;
Distribution
Asia-Tropical, Papua New Guinea present, central ranges from the Telefomin area to Milne Bay present
Malesia: Papua New Guinea (on the central ranges from the Telefomin area to Milne Bay). This species does not overlap the range of L. montana except in the Wagau-Garaina area.
Notes
Bark smooth with very small fissures, greyish or reddish brown; inner bark pinkish, aro-matic. Wood brittle, cream-brown, with prominent rays. Flowers greenish yellow, drupes orange to black on a yellow receptacle. The leaves are charac-teristically obovate with the lower veins ascending for much of the length of the lamina, but elliptical leaves and more spreading lateral veins are not infre-quent. The midrib and lateral veins are usually dense-ly clothed with minute crisped, often russet or fawn tomentum, and this frequently covers (if only sparse-ly) the whole lamina. These hairs may be short and crisp as in the type, or longer and more lax (as in the type of L.forbesii), but these differences are not con-sidered of specific importance. One or two collec-tions in which the tomentum is practically confined to the midrib approach rather closely to L. montana BECC. Since these specimens are from the region where the ranges of the two species meet (the Wagau-Garaina region of Morobe Prov.) it is probable that some admixture of the two species occurs there.