Kipiro Q. Damas & Barry J.

Conn
Presentation outline

1. Introduction
- Documentation available in PNG
2. Aim of the project
3. Study site
4. Methods of data collection and entry
- Diagnostic characters
- PNGTrees Data sheet
- Software used
5. Results
6. Impediments
7. Conclusions
Achievements and Final outcome
8. Acknowledgements
 Introduction
The nation of Papua New Guinea is now 37 years old after independence and has a total
land area of 46.437 million hectares, having a forest cover of 29.437 million hectares. The
forest cover holds part of the estimated 15,000 to 20,000 vascular plants in the Island of
New Guinea. The trees numbering to approximately 2,000 species of which
approximately 400 are utilized as timber domestically and exported over seas. Timber
resource is one of the major commodities for the revenue earnings apart from mining,
petroleum and agriculture.

There are very few resources available to the timber industry that will enable the accurate
identification of major tree species within Papua New Guinea. The unnecessary
destruction of rare and otherwise valuable tree species has, in part, resulted from the
inability to distinguish these species from the preferred timber species.
Furthermore, the mixture of unwanted timber with that from preferred species has
frequently resulted in the downgrading of all lumber to wood-chip.

This project is a major initiative of the Papua New Guinea National Herbarium, together
with the Forestry Research Institute, Lae, Papua New Guinea and the National
Herbarium of New South Wales, Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust, NSW, Australia
(2003).
Continuation of the project made possible ACP EU FORNET Funding in 2009.
 Documentations available in PNG

Handbooks of the Flora of Papua New Guinea

Volume 1: 8
Edition: 1978 (John S. Wormersley) Flora of the
Bismarck archipelago
1.Combretaceae
2.Corynocarpaceae
3. Datiscaceae
4. Himantandraceae
5. Magnoliaceae
6. Meliaceae (Chisocheton)
7.Myristicaceae
8. Ochnaceae
Volume 3: 4 Tree Families
Edition: 1995
1. Erythroxylaceae
2. Clusiaceae
3. Loganiaceae
Tree families: 45
4. Proteaceae
Edition: 1984 (P.G. Peekel)
Introduction cont

Training manual for the Commercial timbers of

Forestry College Papua New Guinea

Tree Families: 52
446 timber species
Edition: 1974 (J.J. Havel
 Aim of Project

1. The aim of this project is to develop interactive identification tools

for the common trees of Papua New Guinea so that government
and non- government agencies particularly, ( foresters and loggers)
are able to distinguish readily the important timber species from
other non-timber trees.

2. Documentation of Flora of Papua New Guinea

2,000 Tree species

 Study site

Kamiali Wildlife Management

area

Distance from Lae: 70 km south of

Lae

Area: 47,000 hectares

Forest: intact from low land to mid

montane rain forest on ultra basic soil
Methods of data
collection and entry
 Diagnostic Characters
(141 Identification characters)

Height / dbh
Buttresses
Bole
Vegetative Features
Bark
Outer Bark
Inner Bark
Colour
Texture
Odour

Leaf
Arrangement
Simple/Compound
Shape
 Diagnostic Characters
(141 identification characters)

Vegetative Features
Floral and Fruiting Features

Macro-features
Number of parts
Flower and fruit types
 PNGTrees DataSheet
WEB Entry Forms
Barry Conn (NSW) & Kipiro Damas (LAE).
Guide to trees of Papua New Guinea
Copyright held by the authors, National Herbarium of New South Wales, and Papua New Guinea
National Herbarium

Data are grouped and ordered according to the following topics or features:
Literature Habit Field Characters Habit Indumentum Leaves Flowers
Fruits Administration Distribution Administration Notes

Data can be entered

remotely

Load data into IntKey

(DELTA), LucID or
NaviKey software
 Software used

The DiversityDescriptions version 2.0 (DeltaAccess 2.0)software (Hagedorn 2007+)

has been used to manage and store plant descriptive data. This software outputs
data in DELTA(Descriptive Language for Taxonomy) format (Dallwitz 2005),
whichmakes these descriptive data widely available for other applications. DELTA
format is a flexible method for encoding taxonomic descriptions for computer
processing and management.

The tree descriptions included in this project have been generated by this Microsoft
Access application, with output further modified using a perl script to include extra
features.

These features include a distribution map, specimen images and some aesthetic
layout manipulation. Both the distribution map and the specimen images originate
from collections held in the Papua New Guinea ('PNGplants') database (Conn et al.
2004+).
RESULTS
 Automated Descriptions
Calophyllum papuanum Laut. Bot. Jarb. Vol. 58: 9 (1922). Fig. 2. Other Literature: P.F.
Stevens Handbooks Fl. Papua New Guinea Vol. 3: 90-91 (1995)
Clusiaceae; Dicot. Tradename: Calophyllum.
Timber species.
Small trees or large trees. Buttresses sometimes present; spines absent; aerial roots absent;
stilt roots absent. Bark dark grey or brown; rough; fissured or scaly or flaky; exudate
present; very light yellow; not changing colour on exposure to air. Terminal buds not
enclosed by leaves; complex hairs absent; stinging hairs absent; mature twig hairy; hairs
dense or hairs sparse. Leaves opposite, simple; petiole present, not winged, attached to
base of leaf blade <not peltate>, not swollen; (2.4-)6.5-17(-22) cm long, (1.4-)3.5-8(-11) cm
wide; glands absent, lamina symmetric; margin entire; apex rounded or sub acute;
venation pinnate <secondary veins arising from the midrib along its length>, secondary
veins closed <spaced so close together that tertiary veins cannot be easily seen between
them>, prominent or not prominent, but visible; stipules absent; domatia absent; hairs
present; sparse or dense. Inflorescence axillary <from between a leaf and branch>, usually
flowers on an unbranched axis; flowers unisexual, probably with male and female flowers
on different plants <dioecious>, flowers stalked, with many planes of symmetry
<actinomorphic>, about 5 mm long or across or to about 30 mm long or across; Perianth
present; with all sepals and/or petals (hence tepals) similar; usually 8.0, free; Stamens (70-
)150-300, filaments present, free of each other, free of the perianth; Ovary superior <seated
above petals and sepals; hypogenous>, carpels joined (when more than one)
<syncarpous>, locules 1; styles solitary <including joined together>, 1. Usually fruits
arranged on unbranched axis; Fruit brown, non-fleshy. Seeds 1, much more than 10 mm
long, not winged.
Data Presentation (in website)
 Data Dictionary
Interactive Identification
NaviKey

List of Features

List of Tree Species

 49
440
 Result (Figures) cont...

Peter J. Eddowes Timber groups Peter Conn & Remarks

Eddowes Damas
Major exportable 53 53 To be confirmed
hardwoods
Commercial 103 75 To be confirmed Conn & Damas
hardwoods
major exportable
Minor hardwoods 61 65 To be confirmed hardwoods : 53
commercial hardwoods: 75

53 major exportable Occasional timbers 213 145 To be confirmed minor hardwoods : 65

hardwoods Softwoods: 18
103 commercial Soft woods 16 18 To be confirmed Occasional timber
hardwoods species: 145
61 minor hardwoods
Non timber species Nill 174 To be confirmed
Non timber species: 174
16 softwoods Total timber species 446 532 (tree Total trees scored: 532
213 occasional species)
timbers
446 Timber species Conn & Damas : 350 tree species documented from elsewhere
(2003 2009) and 182 trees from Kamiali (2010 2012)

Total of 700
trees yet to
score
 IMPEDIMENTS

1. Travel logistics
2. Social Unrest

3. Resource limitations
- Technical equipment
- Current Literature
- Taxonomic skills
 Conclusion

Achievements in this project

1. Documentation of 532 tree species of PNG

350 tree species documented from elsewhere (2003 2009)
182 trees from Kamiali (2010 2012)

2. Website used widely, nationally and internationally

http://www.pngplants.org or Google: pngtrees

Final outcome
1. Accessible through Internet
2. Compact Disc Distribution within
3. Printed Book form PNG
 Acknowledgements

CIFOR - ACP EU FORNET

Australian National Herbarium
Global Biodiversity Information Facility
National Herbarium of New South Wales
National Herbarium of Victoria
Papua New Guinea National Herbarium
Queensland Herbarium
The Australia & Pacific Biological Foundation
Thank You