Schizomeria ilicina
Content
Description
Tree or rarely shrubby, (3-)10-35 m high, buttresses absent.
Leaves with petiole 0.2-1.7(-2) cm and blade usually coriaceous, 1.7-11.5(-16.5) by 1-7(-8.5) cm, elliptic, oblong, ovate or obovate, with the base cuneate to truncate, rounded or rarely ± cordate and the apex usually rounded or obtuse, sometimes emarginate, rarely acute;
Stipules lingulate or narrowly triangular, 4-12 by 1-2.5 mm, glabrous.
Inflorescence terminal, well-developed to compact, paniculate to corymbose;
Flowers usually bisexual, (4.5-)6-7 mm diameter; 5-6-merous (except for gynoecium);
Fruit usually ± spherical, sometimes misshapen, sometimes ellipsoid or oblate, 1.6-3 by 1.3-2.5 cm;
Distribution
Asia-Tropical, Guadalcanal present, Mt Popomanasiu present, Solomon Islands present, highlands of New Guinea present
Mt Popomanasiu, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands and Malesia: widespread in the Highlands of New Guinea.
Notes
1 A variable but often distinctive species, especially at high altitude. The size of the leaves usually decreases with altitude. The pattern of venation, with the secondary veins ± perpendicular to the midrib towards the base of the blade, straight rather than arcuate, and more closely spaced towards the base of the blade than distally, is often characteristic but does occur occasionally in other species. The leaves are usually ± gla-brous, except for two collections from the Vogelkop with reddish floccose indumentum.
2. At medium elevations, S. ilicina is not always easily distinguished from S. serrata except by the ovary, which is normally glabrous in S. ilicina and pubescent in S. serrata. In addition, the leaves of S. ilicina are usually smaller and more coriaceous, often with a rounded rather than a pointed apex.