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 effusum (A.Gray) Müll.Berol.

Annales Botanices Systematicae Vol. 4: 838 (1 857-1 858)

Family: Myrtaceae
Dicotyledon

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to c. 33 m high); Bole cylindrical (spurred to slightly fluted, mostly up to c. 50 m diam., sometimes up to 100 cm); straight (bole mostly 10-25 m long); buttresses buttresses present (buttresses up to c. 1.5 m high) or buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark grey or brown (mottled), almost smooth or rough, tessellated or scaly or flaky; Subrhytidome (under-bark) red or pale brown; less than 25 mm thick, (5.0-) 8.0-12.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; strongly aromatic or faintly to non-aromatic; pleasant; outer blaze pink, brown, or yellow (pale (straw-coloured), markings absent, fibrous; inner blaze yellow (pale (straw-coloured), brown, or pink, markings absent, fibrous; bark exudate (sap) present or absent, colourless, not readily flowing (spotty), colour changing on exposure to air, to brown, 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 above middle or broadest at or near middle, 2.0-8.0 cm, 1.5-3.0 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, acuminate, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, not prominent, but visible, intramarginal veins present; leaves lower surface pale green, upper surface dark green (glossy), indumentum (hairs) absent; present; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence terminal or axillary, flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 4.0-6.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (4-5 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 5.0-7.0 mm long, 4.0-6.0 mm diam., white or red, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, about 10 mm long (5-6 mm long), not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed 1-10 mm diam. (c. 5 mm diam.).

Distribution: West Sepik, Madang, Morobe, Western Highlands, Eastern Highlands, Southern Highlands, Western, Central, Northern, Papuan Islands, New Britain & New Ireland.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details