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 acutangulum Nied.

in Engler & Prantl, Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien Vol. 3, 7: 85 (1893)

Family: Myrtaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Occasional timber species

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (20-40 m high); Bole cylindrical (up to 60 cm diam.); straight (bole up to 20 m long); buttresses buttresses present (buttresses up to 1.5 m high); spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark brownish red or brown (pale (often with pinkish tinge), rough, scaly or flaky (to slightly papery); Subrhytidome (under-bark) green; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze brown (dark to pale, often golden-coloured), markings absent, fibrous; inner blaze brown (dark to pale, often golden-coloured), markings absent, fibrous; bark exudate (sap) present, colourless, not readily flowing (spotty), colour changing on exposure to air, to purple, not sticky; 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 at or near middle, 10.0-17.0 cm, 3.5-7.0 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, acuminate (shortly) or obtuse, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, not prominent, but visible, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface green, upper surface dark green (glossy), indumentum (hairs) absent; present (dense); domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary or on the trunk or branches, flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 3.0-4.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (3-4 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth white; 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 7.0-8.0 mm long, 7.0-8.0 mm diam., bluish red, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1-2, to about 5 mm long (5-6 mm long), not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed 1-10 mm diam. (4-4.5 mm diam.).

Distribution: East Sepik, Madang, Morobe, Western Highlands, Central, Milne Bay, New Britain, New Ireland & Bougainville.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details