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 gonatanthum (Diels) Merr. & L.M.Perry

Journal of the Arnold Arboretum Vol. 23: 256 (1942)

Other Literature: Hartley & Perry, Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 187 (1973)

Family: Myrtaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Occasional timber species

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to c. 30 m high) or Small sub-canopy tree (mostly large shrubs, up to 20 m high); Bole cylindrical (up to c. 60 cm diam.); straight (bole mostly up to c. 20 m long) or slightly crooked; buttresses buttresses absent; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots present (poorly developed stilt roots once recorded) or stilt roots absent; Bark grey or brown, rough, slightly peeling or scaly or flaky; Subrhytidome (under-bark) green or pale yellow; less than 25 mm thick, 6.0-8.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; strongly aromatic or faintly to non-aromatic; pleasant (fruity aroma); outer blaze pale yellow, pale red, or pale brown, markings absent, fibrous; inner blaze pale brown, pale red, or pale yellow, 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), 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, 9.0-13.0 cm, 4.0-6.5 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, acuminate (shortly slightly bent), venation pinnate, secondary veins closed, not prominent, but visible, intramarginal veins present (1-1.5 mm from margin); leaves lower surface pale green, upper surface dark green, indumentum (hairs) absent; present (densely covered with oil dots); domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence leaf-opposed, flowers arising from a single point, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 11.0-15.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth green (creamy); free; stamens 100, present, free of each other, free of the perianth; ovary inferior, carpels joined (when more than one), locules 2; styles solitary, 1.

Fruits: Infrutescence single, fruit 12.0-15.0 mm long, 12.0-15.0 mm diam., white (usually when immature), red, or orange, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, about 10 mm long, not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed 1-10 mm diam. (8-10 mm diam.).

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

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details