Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Pimelodendron amboinicum Hassk.


Tree
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Fruit, side views and cross section. © W. T. Cooper
Scale bar 10mm. © CSIRO
Family

Hasskarl, J.C. (1855) Verslagen en Mededeelingen der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen 3 : 140. Type: Moluccas.

Common name

Pimelodendron

Stem

Milky bark exudate appearing quickly and often turning cream or yellowish on exposure. Subrhytidome layer dark red.

Leaves

Petioles and twigs produce a milky exudate. Two flat or slightly raised glands near the base on the underside of the leaf blade one on either side of the midrib near the blade margin. Leaves crowded towards the ends of the twigs. Leaf blades about 6-16 x 4-6 cm. Stipules small and inconspicuous.

Flowers

Flowers about 2-3 mm diam. Male flowers, perianth +/- 2-lobed. Stamens about 10-13, pistillode absent. Female flower features not complete. Stigma sessile in the female flower.

Fruit

Fruits ellipsoid, about 25 x 15 mm. Seed depressed globose or subreniform, about 12-15 x 10 mm, half enclosed in a multilobulate cupule or aril. Testa finely radiate-striolate.

Seedlings

Features not available.

Distribution and Ecology

Occurs in CYP, known only from collections made near Lockerbie and Iron Range. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 100 m. Grows in gallery forest and drier, more seasonal rain forest. Also occurs in Malesia and the Solomon Islands.

Natural History & Notes

This species may have medicinal properties.

RFK Code
677
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