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 sayeri (F.Muell.) B.Hyland

Australian Journal of Botany Vol. Supplement Series 9: 119-122 (1983) Fig. 38-39.

Family: Myrtaceae
Dicotyledon

Timber Group: Occasional timber species

Field Characters: Large canopy tree (up to 35 m high) or Small sub-canopy tree (up to 10 m high); Bole cylindrical (up to c. 60 cm diam., often up to 150 cm); straight (mostly bole up to c. 20 m long); buttresses buttresses present; spines spines absent; aerial roots aerial roots absent; stilt roots stilt roots present; Bark brown (dark to pale), slightly rough, fissured (slightly sometimes), scaly or flaky, or slightly pustular, lenticels irregular; Subrhytidome (under-bark) pink or red; less than 25 mm thick, 10.0-20.0; bark blaze consisting of one layer; faintly to non-aromatic; pleasant or faintly resinous/linament-like; outer blaze pale brown, pink, or red, markings absent or sometimes with stripes, granular without splinters or fibrous (on larger trees); inner blaze pale brown, red, or pink, markings absent or sometimes with stripes, fibrous (on older trees) or granular without splinters; bark exudate (sap) present or absent, colourless, not readily flowing (spotty), colour changing on exposure to air, to black, 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 sometimes broadest below middle, sometimes broadest above middle, or usually broadest at or near middle, (7.3-) 8.5-15.0 (-16.0) cm, (2.5-) 4.5-7.0 cm; symmetric, entire, not dissected or lobed, slightly long-tapering, obtuse, or acuminate, venation pinnate, secondary veins open, not prominent, but visible, intramarginal veins present (generally 2, c. 3 mm from margin); leaves lower surface green, upper surface dark green (glossy), indumentum (hairs) absent; present (densely glandular with large oil dots visible on both surfaces); domatia absent; stipules absent.

Flowers: Inflorescence terminal or on the trunk or branches, flowers on a branched axis, cones absent; flowers bisexual, stalked, flowers with many planes of symmetry, 20.0-25.0 mm long, diameter small (up to10 mm diam.) (c. 7 mm diam.); perianth present, with distinct sepals and petals whorls, inner perianth white or cream-coloured; 4 (densely covered with distinct oil dots), 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 30.0-40.0 mm long, 30.0-40.0 mm diam., white, not spiny, fleshy, simple, indehiscent, drupe; seeds 1, about 10 mm long or much more than 10 mm long (10-20 mm long), not winged, broad (as wide as long), seed more than 10 mm diam. (10-20 mm diam.).

Distribution: West Sepik, Madang, Morobe, Western Highlands, Eastern Highlands, Central & New Ireland.

Botanical records in PNGplants database Map details

Notes: Notes Previously known as Syzygium dictyophlebium Merr. & L.M.Perry, Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 23: 267 (1942)..