Dysoxylum arborescens

Family

Meliaceae

Botanical Name

Dysoxylum arborescens (Blume) Miq.

Miquel, F.A.W. (1868) Annales Musei Botanici Lugduno-Batavi 4: 24. Type: ?.

Synonyms

Goniocheton arborescens Blume, Bijdr. fl. Ned. Ind. 1: 177(1825), Type: Java, Base of Mt Salak & Mt Seribu, C.L. Blume s.n.; holo: L. Alliaria nernstii (F.Muell.) Kuntze, Revisio Generum Plantarum 1: 109(1891), Type: ?. Dysoxylum nernstii F.Muell., Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae 5: 176(1865), Type: In silvis ad sinum litoreum Rockinghams Bay secus rivos salinos. Dallachy.

Common name

Mahogany; Mossman Mahogany; Mahogany, Mossman

Stem

Lenticels large and conspicuous, up to 1 cm diameter. Narrow, hard, brittle, pale brown or orange stripes in the blaze.

Leaves

Compound leaf axis narrowly winged between the basal pair of leaflets and the twig. Small oil dots just visible with a lens. Numerous pale brown circular or slightly elongated lenticels visible on the twigs. Leaflet blades about 8.5-18 x 3-7 cm.

Flowers

Calyx short, +/- trumpet-shaped, lobes acute, spreading +/- horizontally. Outer surface of the corolla sparsely clothed in pale, prostrate hairs. Petals about 7-10 mm long. Stamens ten. Disk resembles a small staminal tube. Ovary pubescent.

Fruit

Fruits depressed globular, about 15-20 mm long, glabrous on the outer surface. Sarcotesta surface 75% orange or red and 25% white. Cotyledons green.

Seedlings

At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade elliptic, apex acuminate, base attenuate, glabrous on the upper surface; oil dots small, inconspicuous, visible only with a lens. Petiole channelled on the upper surface; hairs on petiole and stem short, prostrate.

Distribution and Ecology

Occurs in CYP and NEQ. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 200 m. Grows in well developed lowland rain forest on a variety of sites. Also occurs on the Andaman Islands, Taiwan and the SW Pacific islands.