Gymnacranthera farquhariana var. zippeliana
Content
Description
Tree 3-30(-45) m.
Leaves thickly membranous or chartaceous, sometimes subcoriaceous;
Fruits (1 or) 2-13 per infructescence, ellipsoid to oblong, rarely subglobose, (1.5-) 1.8-2.5 by 1.1-1.5 cm;
Distribution
Asia-Tropical: Bismarck Archipelago (Bismarck Archipelago present); Jawa (Jawa absent); Lesser Sunda Is. absent; Malaya (Peninsular Malaysia present); New Guinea present, S Philippines present
Malesia: Peninsular Malaysia, S Philippines, and New Guinea (incl. theBismarck Archipelago), not in Java or the Lesser Sunda Islands. The most widespread taxon of Gymnacranthera.
Uses
In Papua Barat (Bird's Head) the bark, together with lime, is used to prepare the skins of birds.
Notes
4 Some collections from New Britain have leaves drying dull with the nerves sunken above, and pale, often purplish-whitish below, but intermediate forms exist with the remainder of var. zippeliana.
2 The fruits of some specimens from New Guinea are ± ellipsoid(-oblong), and are intermediate in shape with those of var. paniculata; they are placed in var. zippeliana because of their short fruiting pedicels.
3 Occasionally specimens are found with particularly brittle leaves when dry, a character not often met with in other Gymnacranthera species.
1 Gymnacranthera farquhariana var. zippeliana is variable in leaf size. In Sulawesi, Moluccas, and New Guinea in particular, specimens with large leaves up to 27 cm long are found. The fruits also are variable in shape and size. Particularly distinctive fruits are found in de Vogel 3789, 3795, 3955, from Bacan I., which have small, almost globose fruits 1.2 cm diameter; the trees are 40-45 m high (other specimens have never been recorded as being taller than 33 m). In all other characters these specimens agree with var. zippeliana, but more material may show them to represent a separate taxon.