Tapeinosperma Hook.f.

Timothy M. A. Utteridge and Laura V. S. Jennings (2022). Trees of New Guinea. Kew Publishing. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Distribution

A genus of approximately 60 species from Borneo to the Pacific, with a centre of diversity in Fiji, New Caledonia and Vanuatu; five species in New Guinea.

Morphology General Habit

Trees or rarely shrubs

Morphology Leaves

Leaves pseudo-verticillate, entire, punctate, subsessile or petiolate, but always with swollen petioles (appearing pulvinate)

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Inflorescences axillary or terminal, racemose or compound racemose with the flowers in corymbs

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers

Flowers 5-merous, bisexual; calyx lobes imbricate in bud, nearly free or united up to their length, punctate or not; corolla campanulate, the lobes dextrorsely contorted in bud, sparsely punctate, punctate or lacking punctations; stamens usually 5 per flower, occasionally 10 per flower (T. magnifica in New Guinea), filaments basally connate and adnate to the corolla tube, anthers free, oblong-ovoid, dorsifixed near the base, opening by longitudinal slits starting as subapical pores; ovary globose or ovoid, style thick, longer than the ovary, the stigma truncate, capitate or somewhat discoid; ovules few (usually 6–12), uniseriate. Fruits large, mostly depressed-globose to oblongoid, the exocarp thick and juicy but not spongy, endocarp crusty

Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds

Seed one.

Ecology

The genus is found in primary rain forest from sea level to 925 m in New Guinea.

Recognition

Tapeinosperma can be recognised by the leaves pseudo-verticillate and crowded at the apex of the stems or branches, the large leaves (up to 1 m in T. pachycaulum B.C.Stone & Whitmore in New Britain and New Ireland), robust petioles appearing pulvinate, the bisexual flowers, and the stamens with very short filaments adnate to the corolla tube.