Steganthera hirsuta
Content
Description
Tree up to 20 m, occasionally a straggling shrub or liana;
Leaves broadly ovate or elliptic to narrowly elliptic, rarely lanceolate or more or less orbicular, usually of moderate size (10-13 cm long) but frequently up to 32 by 13 cm and occasionally much smaller (7.5 by 2 cm);
Inflorescences axillary, supra-axillary or terminal, usually pleiochasia with the lower lateral branches again branched or reduced to simple dichasia, densely pubescent throughout or glabrous.
Fruiting receptacle enlarged to c. 2 cm ø.
Distribution
Ambon present, Aru Is present, Asia-Tropical: Maluku (Maluku present); New Guinea present, Australasia: Queensland (Queensland present), Bum present, Ceram present, Halmahera present, Iron Range present, Manus I present, Mt Bonthain present, Mt Suckling present, New Britain present, New Ireland present, SW. Celebes present, Ternate present, throughout the island from Vogelkop Peninsula to Milne Bay Prov present
Australia (Queensland, Iron Range); in Malesia: SW. Celebes (Mt Bonthain), Moluccas (Bum, Ceram, Ambon, Halmahera, Ternate, Aru Is.), New Guinea (throughout the island from Vogelkop Peninsula to Milne Bay Prov.: Mt Suckling), also on Manus I., New Britain and New Ireland.
Uses
The wood is used for clubs (Isago village, Balimo district, Western Prov.). Pipe tobacco rolled in the leaves (Butemu village, Saidor Distr., Madang Prov.).
Notes
The number of different forms included within this species cannot be considered satisfactory, yet they appear to be connected by intermediates so that any segregation of these forms as species would seem, at this stage, to be even less satisfactory. This aggregate has a geographical range extending from Celebes almost to the eastern limit of New Guinea, and reaches from sea-level to 2450 m. It is frequent throughout its range, and the number of separate collections of it approaches that of all the other species combined. Several specific names have been applied to different forms within the complex and some of these certainly appear distinctive until intermediate forms are compared. Variability effects most features of the plant: leaf shape and leaf size and the pattern of the principal veins; the presence or absence of marginal teeth and their prominence; the degree of development and persistence of the indumentum; the degree of branching of the inflorescence; the size and shape of the male and female receptacles; the ratio between the cavity and wall thickness in the male flower; and the presence and length of the stipes bearing the achenes. Some combinations of character states may occur frequently in one region, encouraging the belief that local segregate species may eventually become recognizable. An example is the form named S. oblongiflora (with elliptical male receptacles with small cavities and narrowly elliptical ± glabrous leaves with few, sharply ascending veins) that occurs in the upland parts of the Northern and Central Provinces and adjacent parts of the Manyamya District of Morobe Province. Similar to it and occurring sympatrically is the form named S. thyrsiflora which is most frequent in the neighbouring Wau, Mumeng and Lae Districts of Morobe Province. This form has broader glabrous leaves with more spreading principal veins, and with globose receptacles with proportionally larger cavities. How-ever, the character states intergrade and occur in different combinations, so that specific distinctions cannot be maintained. A practical difficulty with herbarium material is that specimens rarely display all the significant characters, so that a definitive treatment of this complex must finally rely on extensive fieldwork. Another distinctive form with densely hairy leaves (and often with ± sessile achenes) has been collected most frequently east of Wau, but is also found from the Owen Stanley Range to the Western Highlands Province.
The young foliage is pinkish; the flowers are cream coloured; and the black drupes are borne on red, yellow or orange receptacles.
The young foliage is pinkish; the flowers are cream coloured; and the black drupes are borne on red, yellow or orange receptacles.
Citation
PERKINS & GILG 1901 – In: Pfl. R.: 54
PERKINS 1911: p. 22. – In: Pfl. R.: f. 8A-E.
PERKINS & GILG 1901 – In: Pfl. R.: 54
PERKINS 1915 – In: Bot. Jahrb.: 202
PERKINS 1911: p. 22. – In: Pfl. R.: f. 8F.
PERKINS & GILG 1901: p. 53. – In: Pfl. R.: f. 11
K. SCH. & LAUT. 1900: Fl. Deut. Schutzgeb. Südsee: 329
PERKINS 1911: p. 22. – In: Pfl. R.: f. 8G.
PHILIPSON 1984: p. 493. – In: Blumea: f. 4