Chisocheton pohlianus

Chisocheton pohlianus belonging to the Mahogany Family (Meliaceae), is a small, lower story, leptocaul rainforest tree from New Guinea no more than 26 ft in height and 2.75 in thick. Like all Chisocheton species it has indeterminate, pinnate leaves in this case up to 6 ft in length and having as many as 28 pairs of leaflets at any given time. Each time the tiny circinate bud at the tip of the leaf forms a new pair of leaflets, the leaf simultaneously produces, further back, a small 2 in inflorescence, but not at the same spot as where a pair of leaflets are attached, but halfway between two pairs of leaflets. The jury is still out as to whether these are inflorescences fused to a leaf (as in Tilia spp and Phyllobotryon spp) or whether the leaves have assumed reproductive function (as in certain Streptocarpus spp). The difficulty is in reconciling an indeterminate leaf with determinate inflorescences. The flowers are tubular, about one-half inch (one cm) in length with 3 to ten petals, crème de menthe in color and said to have the fragrance of Cymbopogon.