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 rosaceum Diels

Botanische Jahrbucher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie Vol. lvii: 406 (1922)

Family: Myrtaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Non-timber species

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to c. 35 m high); Bole cylindrical (often slightly flanged for much of length, up to c. 80 cm diam.); straight (bole up to 20 m long); buttresses buttresses present (buttresses up to 2.5 m high); spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots absent; Bark red, brown, or orange, slightly rough, scaly or flaky (papery); Subrhytidome (under-bark) brown or red; less than 25 mm thick; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; outer blaze pale brown or red, markings absent, fibrous; inner blaze pale 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 slightly equally broad throughout much of length or broadest at or near middle, 5.5-9.5 (-10.0) cm, 3.5-5.0 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, acuminate (shortly) or obtuse, venation pinnate, secondary veins open (with many secondary veins), not prominent, but visible, intramarginal veins present (up to c. 3 mm from margin); leaves lower surface green, upper surface dark green, indumentum (hairs) absent; present (densely glandular); domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence axillary or leaf-opposed, flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 10.0-15.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (c. 10 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth pink; 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 9.0-12.0 mm long, 4.0-5.0 mm diam., red, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1-2, about 10 mm long, not winged, narrow (longer than wide), seed 1-10 mm diam. (c. 5 mm diam.).

Distribution: East Sepik, Morobe, Western & Central.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details