Tropical Plant Database - Plant Details

This is a tree reaching 6 m. tall. This extremely rare plant has the one of the largest leaves in the Aralia family. The light green leaves are shaped like the palm of a very large hand with 7-11 finger-like lobes. Under optimal conditions the leaves can reach up to one meter wide! The margins are toothed. The flowers are yellow orange, about 4-5 mm long and clustered densely on top of the tree in clusters of 30-40. Directly beneath the flowers grow round, dark sterile flowers that are closed. They look so much like fruits that birds land on the tree to eat, and in the process pollinate the flowers above them with their feathers. The true fruit is dark purple and round, about 9 x 6 mm.
(Top Tropicals Http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/Osmoxylon_novoguineensis.htm)
(Philipson, W. R. 1976. The Malesian species of Osmoxylon. Blumea 23 (1):115)

A closely related species is used to treat venomous snake bites in Papau New Guinea.
(MEBS, D. 1996. Herbal treatment of snakebite in Papua New Guinea. Toxicon 34: 727-824.)

This plant is found in the Talaud Islands, in NE Indonesia. This tree is fairly common there, in forests and beside streams at low elevation. This plant is part of a larger species complex extending eastward towards the Phillipines. The genus consists of about 50 species, all of which are located in Malesia.

(Philipson, W. R. 1976. The Malesian species of Osmoxylon. Blumea 23 (1):115)

We currently have 1 herbarium specimens for Osmoxylon talaudense in our collection. Click on any specimen below to view the herbarium sheet data.

• 025254 - collected by David H. Lorence in 1997