Terminalia complanata K.Schum.

Schumann, K.M. (1889) Die Flora von Kaiser Wilhelms Land : 83. Type: New Guinea, Finschhafen: Mentzel 3; holo: B, destroyed. Sepik Region, C. Lauterbach 1638; neo: L. Fide Coode (1973).

Claudie Damson; Damson; Yellow Terminalia

Blaze very finely layered. Paler granular stripes visible in the outer blaze. Deciduous; leafless for a short period in September or October.

Leaf blades about 5-11 x 2-4 cm. Numerous oil dots visible with a lens or just visible to the naked eye. Terminal buds and young shoots densely clothed in rusty brown hairs. Lateral veins curved throughout their length but not forming loops.

Inflorescence generally longer than the leaves, bracts filiform, to 2 mm long, caducous. Perianth tube pilose outside, lobes narrowly triangular, about 1.5 x 1 mm, glabrous inside. Staminal filaments glabrous, about 2.5-3 mm long. Disk villous. Style glabrous.

Mature fruits glabrescent, laterally compressed, ellipsoid, about 17-22 x 16-18 x 8-10 mm, often apiculate. Seed about 8-12 x 2-3 mm, cotyledons convolute.

Cotyledons +/- reniform, about 10-12 x 15-20 mm. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade elongate-obovate, apex acute or acuminate, base attenuate, a few hairs may occur on the upper surface near the petiole; oil dots small, numerous, irregular in size; petiole, stem and terminal bud clothed in reddish brown hairs. Seed germination time 99 to 231 days.

Occurs in CYP, from Banks (Moa) Island in Torres Strait to the McIlwraith Range. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 400 m. Grows in well developed rain forest, probably reaching its best development in gallery forest. Also occurs in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.