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 richardsonianum Merr. & L.M.Perry

Journal of the Arnold Arboretum Vol. xxiii: 274 (1942)

Family: Myrtaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Non-timber species

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to 40 m high) or Small sub-canopy tree (often a large shrub); Bole cylindrical (up to c. 40 cm diam.); straight (bole up to c. 21 m long); buttresses buttresses present (buttresses up to 4 m high); spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark brownish red, pale brown, or pale orange, smooth or slightly rough, scaly or flaky (slightly (papery); Subrhytidome (under-bark) green; less than 25 mm thick; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze yellow (pale (straw-coloured), pink, or pale brown, markings absent, fibrous; inner blaze yellow (pale (straw-coloured), pink, or pale brown, markings absent, fibrous; 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) (to slightly sub-opposite), 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, 10.0-15.0 cm, 4.0-5.0 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, acuminate, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, not prominent, but visible or not visible, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface green (dull (to sub-glossy) or pale green, upper surface dark green (glossy), indumentum (hairs) absent; present (perhaps not always easy to see); domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary or on the trunk or branches (on branches below leaves), flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 10.0 (c.) mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (8-10 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 40.0-48.0 mm long, 45.0-52.0 mm diam., white or cream-coloured, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, much more than 10 mm long (c. 40 mm long), not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed more than 10 mm diam. (c. 40 mm diam.).

Distribution: Madang, Morobe, Western Highlands, Eastern Highlands, Southern Highlands, Gulf, Central, Northern, Papuan Islands, New Britain & Manus.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details