Levieria squarrosa
Content
Description
Sparsely branched shrub or small tree, occasional-ly to 18 m;
Dioecious.
Leaves chartaceous, obovate, or rhombic, 3-12 by 1-4 cm, in two principal forms with inter-mediate states frequent:
Stamens numerous (c. 25 or more);
Distribution
Asia-Tropical: New Guinea present, Vogelkop Peninsula to Owen Stanley Range present
Malesia: New Guinea (Vogelkop Peninsula to Owen Stanley Range).
Notes
The bark is grey-brown, smooth with very shallow fissures; inner bark pinkish brown. The wood is heavy, light brown with wide, pale rays. Flowers yellowish green, drupes orange to reddish black on yellow receptacle.
The leaf shape is extremely variable, at first sug-gesting that two species are involved. Obtuse, entire, glabrous leaves occur in the eastern portion of New Guinea, whereas apiculate, dentate and obscurely to-mentulose leaves occur towards the west. There is, however, a considerable area of overlap of the two forms (mainly between 144° E and 146° E) and in this region leaves with intermediate characters are abundant. Thus, although all specimens from the two ends of New Guinea are quite distinct in several characters, these two forms are connected by a broad zone in which it is impossible to separate them.
The leaf shape is extremely variable, at first sug-gesting that two species are involved. Obtuse, entire, glabrous leaves occur in the eastern portion of New Guinea, whereas apiculate, dentate and obscurely to-mentulose leaves occur towards the west. There is, however, a considerable area of overlap of the two forms (mainly between 144° E and 146° E) and in this region leaves with intermediate characters are abundant. Thus, although all specimens from the two ends of New Guinea are quite distinct in several characters, these two forms are connected by a broad zone in which it is impossible to separate them.