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

Syzygium plumeum (Ridl.) Merr. & L.M.Perry

Journal of the Arnold Arboretum Vol. 23: 296 (1942)

Family: Myrtaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Minor hardwood

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to c. 30 m high); Bole cylindrical (up to c. 40 cm diam.); straight (bole up to c. 20 m long); buttresses buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark brownish grey or reddish brown, rough, fissured; less than 25 mm thick; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze yellow (pale (straw-coloured) or brown, markings absent; inner blaze brown or yellow (pale (straw-coloured), markings absent; bark exudate (sap) absent; terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.

Indumentum: Complex hairs absent; stinging hairs absent; mature twig indumentum (hairs) absent.

Leaves: Leaves spaced along branches, opposite (in pairs, opposite one another on the branchlet), simple (a leaf composed of a single blade); petiole present, not winged, attached to base of leaf blade, not swollen; leaves broadest above middle or broadest at or near middle, 4.0-7.0 cm, 1.5-3.5 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, distinctly acuminate, venation pinnate, secondary veins closed, not prominent, but visible, intramarginal veins present; leaves lower surface green (sub-glossy), upper surface dark green (sub-glossy), indumentum (hairs) absent; present (densely glandular); domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary, flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 5.0-7.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (c. 5 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth pale green; 4, free; stamens 100, present, free of each other, free of the perianth (attached to hypanthium); ovary inferior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 2; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis, fruit 8.0 (c.) mm long, 8.0 (c.) mm diam., red, spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, to about 5 mm long (5-7 mm long), not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed 1-10 mm diam. (c. 5 mm diam.).

Distribution: East Sepik, Morobe, Central, Milne Bay, Papuan Islands & New Britain.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details