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 amplum T.G Hartley & L.M. Perry

Journal of the Arnold Arboretum Vol. 54: 192 (1972)

Other Literature: B.P.M. Hyland, Australian Journal of Botany 46-47 (1983)

Family: Myrtaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Occasional timber species

Field Characters: Small sub-canopy tree (up to 15 m high, rarely to 20 m); Bole cylindrical (up to c. 40 cm diam.); straight (almost bole usually up to 5 m long, sometimes up to 12 m) or crooked; buttresses buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark orange or brown, slightly rough or smooth, scaly or flaky or peeling; Subrhytidome (under-bark) white or yellow; less than 25 mm thick, 10.0-12.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; strongly aromatic; pleasant; outer blaze white or yellow, markings absent, fibrous; inner blaze white, markings absent, fibrous; bark exudate (sap) present, colourless, not readily flowing (spotty), colour changing on exposure to air, to grey, 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 usually broadest at or near middle, 17.0-29.0 cm, 10.0-17.0 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, obtuse or sub acute, venation pinnate, secondary veins closed, prominent, intramarginal veins present; leaves lower surface pale green, upper surface green, indumentum (hairs) absent; absent; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence leaf-opposed (appearing lateral behind leaf), flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers unisexual, unisexual with male and female flowers on the same plant, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 30.0-40.0 mm long, diameter large (more than10 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth white (cream-coloured), pale yellow, or pink; 100, all joined; stamens 100, present, joined, free of the perianth; ovary inferior, carpels partially joined, by base, locules 2; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence arranged on branched axis, fruit 40.0 (c.) mm long, 25.0 (c.) mm diam., whitish green or red, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1-2, much more than 10 mm long (25-35 mm long), not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed more than 10 mm diam.

Distribution: East Sepik, Madang, Morobe, Western Highlands, Southern Highlands, Gulf, Central, Northern & New Britain.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

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