Author: Harms
Morphological description (megalocephala Maniltoa all Lau )
Shrub or tree (2-)4.5-12 m high, with brown or greenish brown bark. Growth flush-wise, flushes developing from large buds. Buds covered by 2-ranked, brown, caducous budscales with lengthwise veins; new leaves developing in bright white or pink tassels. Stipules present in the buds, very tender, caducous immediately after the unfolding of the bud, leaving hardly any scar.
Leaves paripinnate, (2- or)3- or 4-jugate; rachis to 9 cm, glabrous; petiole 8 mm. Leaflets opposite, elliptic to oblong-elliptic, 5.5-16(-23) by 3.5-9 cm; apex obtuse or asymmetrically emarginate; base very asymmetric, auriculate one side, adnate to the petiolule (2.8 mm) and slightly hairy; glabrous except for a few hairs on the midrib above and below; midrib 1.3-2.7 cm from the upper margin.
Inflorescences 5-8 cm long, 9 cm wide, the rachis 4.5-8 cm; bracts ovate-lanceolate, 3.5-5.5 by 1.2-2.5 cm, rusty silky; pedicels 0.9-2 cm.
(megalocephala Maniltoa fl Lau )
Flowers: Hypanthium c. 6 mm deep, glabrous. Sepals 3 or 4, 1.8-2.5 by 0.6-1.2 cm. Petals white, linear-lanceolate, unequal, 1-2.5 by 0.3 cm. Disk absent. Stamens c. 40; filaments 2 cm, united at the base for c. 1.5 mm. Ovary 7 mm long, with a few hairs on the curved margin, sessile, almost totally immersed within the hypanthium.
Fruits oblong, slightly reniform, 3.8 by 2.5 by 1.4 cm.
Distribution
Malesia: Papua New Guinea (E Sepik and Madang Provinces).
Habitat & Ecology
Rain forest by rivers and on hills, 30-45 m altitude. Flowering in May; fruiting in May, Augustus, and September.