Dysoxylum brassii
Content
Description
Tree to 25(–35) m with clear bole to 18 m, (25–)40(–75) cm diam., buttressed to 2.5 m.
Bark smooth with pustular lenticels to irregularly finely flaking, red- or grey- brown; inner bark mottled red-brown and purplish, darkening on exposure, weak reddish exudate; sapwood cream; heartwood pale red-brown.
Leaves to 80 cm long, 5–7-jugate with terminal spike or its scar, one lateral leaflet often appearing terminal; petiole 8–25 cm, ± brown pubescent, flattened to shallowly channelled adaxially.
Flowers subsessile, fragrant.
Petals 4, 13–15 mm, cream, densely sericeous without.
Staminal tube glabrous, margin subtruncate; anthers (7) 8, c. 1.5 mm long, narrowly ovate, inserted well inside tube with free filament c. 0.5 mm.
Ovary 4-locular, densely sericeous; style densely sericeous in proximal half; stylehead capitate.
Capsule c. 3.5 cm long, 3 cm diam., subpyriform, brownish, to whitish when mature, drying reddish minutely pubescent; pericarp with white latex (Pennington), constricted between seeds.
Seeds oblong, c. 2 cm long, without aril.
Distribution
Asia-Tropical, Geelvink Bay present, Jayapura present, northeast present, southeast to Fergusson Islands present
Malesia: New Guinea (Jayapura, Geelvink Bay, northeast and southeast to Fergusson Islands)
Morphology
This species has much in common with Dysoxylum magnificum. Merrill and Perry described a fruiting specimen, Harms flowering ones. Moll BW 11611 from Warsamson Valley, E of Sorong, is very galled with a huge apical bud c. 4 cm diam. and may belong here though the collector refers to a strongly laticiferous bark.