Horsfieldia spicata
Content
Description
Tree 2.5-20 m.
Leaves membranous, (el-liptic-)oblong, 8-30 by 2.5-10 cm, base attenuate, apex acute-acuminate, often densely speckled with pale irregular pustules of unknown origin;
Inflorescences early glabrescent, blackish on drying, slender, spike-like, the lateral branches up to 2(-5) mm, peduncle 1-3 cm, not many-flowered;
Fruits 1-5 per infructescence, short-ellipsoid, 1.5-2(-2.5) by 1.2-1.8 cm, glabrous, drying blackish, without pustules;
Distribution
Ambon present, Asia-Tropical: Maluku (Maluku present), Bacan present, Bum present, Halmahera present, Morotai present, Seram present, Ternate present
Malesia: Moluccas (Morotai, Halmahera, Ternate, Bacan, Ambon, Seram, Bum).
Taxonomy
1 Horsfieldia spicata is recognizable at first glance by its spike-like inflorescences drying blackish, and by the pale twigs contrasting with the blackish dried petioles and the inflorescences.
2 Possibly its most closely related species is H. moluccana. Apart from the characters as used in the key, H. spicata differs from H. moluccana in the more membranous leaves. Teijsmann s.n. (L), from Ambon, seems intermediate between H. spicata and H. moluccana, as explained by De Wilde (1. c: 63).