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 pachycladum (Lauterb. & K.Schum.) Merr. & L.M.Perry

Journal of the Arnold Arboretum Vol. 23: 258 (1942)

Family: Myrtaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group:

Field Characters: Emergent tree (up to c. 45 m high) or Large canopy tree (up to c. 30 m high); Bole cylindrical (up to c. 100 cm diam.); straight (bole up to 25 m long); buttresses buttresses present (plank buttresses up to 2.5 m high); spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark white, grey, or brown, rough or smooth, scaly or flaky (papery flakes); Subrhytidome (under-bark) mottled, green, or red; less than 25 mm thick, 8.0-15.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze red or brown, markings absent, fibrous; inner blaze brown or red, 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, (25.0-) 30.0-40.0 cm, (15.0-) 20.0-25.0 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, rounded or obtuse, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, prominent, intramarginal veins absent; leaves lower surface green, upper surface dull dark green, indumentum (hairs) absent; present; domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary (amongst lower leaves) or on the trunk or branches, flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 40.0 (c.) mm long, diameter large (more than10 mm diam.) (c. 40 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth deeply red, pink, or purple; 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 (c.) mm long, 15.0-25.0 mm diam., dark red or pale purple, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, much more than 10 mm long (30-35 mm long), not winged, narrow (longer than wide), seed more than 10 mm diam. (15-20 mm diam.).

Distribution: East Sepik, Madang, Morobe, Western Highlands, Eastern Highlands & Southern Highlands.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details