Palmeria brassii
Content
Description
Woody liana, to 20 high, young branches with a thick indumentum.
Leaves usually broadly elliptic or slightly obovate or rotund, with a small blunt apicu-lum or occasionally with an attenuated apex, 8-22 by 4.8-12 cm, chartaceous, midrib prominent be-low, lateral veins c. 6, arched and meeting within the margin, upper surface of mature leaves covered with the scattered remnants of stellate hairs, which may form a dense pile above the midrib and principal veins and on the margins, lower surface covered with large stellate hairs with lax, shining, bristle-like arms, sometimes rather densely disposed but not ob-scuring the surface of the blade;
Inflorescences axillary and terminal, covered with a short dense creamy or fulvous tomentum, elongate (to c. 40 cm) with relatively short opposite or subop-posite lateral branches (5-8 cm long) or the Inflorescence more paniculate with lateral branches 15-20 cm long (the male inflorescences frequently more lax than the female at anthesis);
Distribution
Asia-Tropical, Eastern Highlands, Morobe and Central Provinces present, Papua New Guinea present
Malesia: Papua New Guinea (Eastern Highlands, Morobe and Central Provinces).
Notes
Characterized by its large leaves bearing a loose indumentum of large stellate hairs with shining, bristle-like, spreading arms. The flowers are de-scribed as white. The immature green, white-spotted fruits later split open to reveal black drupes on a red torus. P. brassiimay be distinguished from P. gracilis by the predominance of stellate hairs, by the shape of the blade and by the longer inflorescence. Some spe-cimens with more numerous simple hairs may also approach P. gracilis in leaf shape. They are possibly of hybrid origin. Of all the New Guinea species, P. brassii probably is most closely related to the Austra-lian P. scandens from which it differs principally in the length of the inflorescence and the leaf shape.