Flora of the Hawaiian Islands
Literature for Fagraea berteroana
Brown, 1935; Fosberg & Sachet, 1974; Leenhouts, 1962; Smith, 1988; Lorence & Wagner, 2020.
   Gentianaceae -- The Gentian Family Bibliography
      Fagraea berteroana
General Information
DistributionNew Guinea, the Caroline and Mariana Islands, northeastern Australia (Queensland), and eastward in the Pacific region to the Marquesas and Austral Islands.
Habit
Large shrub or tree to 15(‒20) m meters tall, trunk 30‒40(‒100) cm in diameter; branchlets compressed, glabrous, bark wrinkled, leaf scars prominent.
Leaves
Leaves petiolate; blade broadly obovate, broadly elliptic to obovate-elliptic or rarely elliptic, 9.5‒18 cm long, 3.3‒10 cm wide, glabrous, subcoriaceous, apex obtuse to rounded or short-acuminate, base cuneate, usually decurrent, secondary veins 5‒8 on each side, often obscure, margin often slightly revolute; petiole 1.2‒4 cm long, 2‒4 mm wide, usually winged distally, base with free portion of interpetiolar stipules 1.5‒2 mm long, thick, blunt.
Flowers
Inflorescences corymbiform-cymose, 9‒23 cm long, 9‒11 cm wide including the corollas, branching 2‒3 times, with up to 16 flowers, glabrous, peduncle 4‒6 cm; bracts subtending axes 3‒5 mm long, 2‒3 mm broad, triangular-obtuse. Flowers with calyx glabrous, lobes 5‒7 mm long, 5‒8 mm broad, broadly ovate to semicircular obtuse, margin scarious; hypanthium 6‒7 mm long, obovoid-turbinate; corolla fragrant when fresh, white becoming yellow with age, glabrous, tube cylindric, 4‒5(‒7.5) cm long, 4‒5 mm wide medially, gradually broadened to 9‒12 mm wide distally, lobes 15‒25 mm long, 8‒15 mm wide, obtuse; stamens included, filaments 8‒11 mm long, anthers linear, 5‒10 mm long; style plus ovary 18‒25(‒65) mm long, glabrous, stigmatic lobes 2, ellipsoid, 3‒5 mm long.
Fruit
Fruit broadly ovoid-ellipsoid to subglobose, 3‒4.5 cm long, 2.5‒3.5 cm in diameter, slightly beaked, surface rugulose, becoming orange or bright red when ripe, with seeds embedded in orange pulp.
Seeds
Seeds numerous, ellipsoid, 1.7‒1.8 mm long, 1 mm wide, testa dark brown, foveolate.
Notes
Frequently planted around homes for its fragrant flowers that are used in garlands.
Contributor
David Lorence