Syzygium claviflorum

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Syzygium claviflorum
Naturalis Biodiversity Center - L.2516203 - Eugenia viridifolia Elmer - Myrtaceae - Plant type specimen.jpeg
Herbarium specimen of Szygium claviflorum
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Myrtales
Family: Myrtaceae
Tribe: Syzygieae
Genus: Syzygium
Species:
S. claviflorum
Binomial name
Syzygium claviflorum
Synonyms [2]
  • Acmena claviflora(Roxb.) Walp.
  • Acmena leptanthaWalp.
  • Acmena wightiana(Wall. ex Wight & Arn.) Walp.
  • Acmenosperma claviflorum(Roxb.) Kausel
  • Clavimyrtus claviflora(Roxb.) Blume
  • Eugenia baviensisGagnep.
  • Eugenia clavata(Korth.) Merr.
  • Eugenia clavifloraRoxb.
  • Eugenia fraseriRidl.
  • Eugenia leptaleaCraib
  • Eugenia maingayiDuthie
  • Eugenia rhododendrifoliaMiq.
  • Eugenia ruminataKoord. & Valeton
  • Eugenia viridifoliaElmer
  • Eugenia wightiana(Wall. ex Wight & Arn.) Wight
  • Jambosa borneensisMiq.
  • Jambosa clavataKorth.
  • Jambosa melanocarpaMiq.
  • Syzygium baviense(Gagnep.) Merr. & L.M.Perry
  • Syzygium clavatum(Korth.) Merr. & L.M.Perry
  • Syzygium claviflorumvar. excavatum (King) I.M.Turner
  • Syzygium claviflorumvar. glandulosum (King) Chantar. & J.Parn.
  • Syzygium claviflorumvar. maingayi (Duthie) Chantar. & J.Parn.
  • Syzygium fraseri(Ridl.) Masam.
  • Syzygium leptanthum(Walp.) Nied.
  • Syzygium rhododendrifolium(Miq.) Masam.
  • Syzygium ruminatum(Koord. & Valeton) Amshoff
  • Syzygium viridifolium(Elmer) Merr. & L.M.Perry

Syzygium claviflorum is a tree in the Myrtaceae family. It is native to the north of the Australian continent and in tropical and subtropical Asia. It is used for timber, as fuel, as human and cattle food, and for dye. Stunted specimens can be found on the top of the plateau of Bokor National Park, Cambodia.

Contents

Description

An evergreen tree that grows some 10-20m tall in Southeast Asia, 3-15m tall in Zhōngguó/China. [3] [4] Trees in the North Queensland Rainforests grow quickly to a large size, reaching some 180 to 270cm diameter. [5] The bark is often rather pale, greyish-white to greyish-brown. [6] The leaves have a depressed midrib and a grooved petiole on the upper surface, the blade is 6.5-13.2 by 2.9-5.8cm in size. Oil dots that are quite variable in size can be seen with a hand-lens. There are about 16-37 lateral veins on each side of the midrib. The inflorescence bracts are deciduous, and absent at full flower opening, anthesis. In the flowers the calyx tube, hypanthium, and pedicel are around 10-20mm long together, the calyx tube is some 2-5mm in diameter, there are 4-5 rounded, small and inconspicuous calyx lobes, rarely greater than 0.5mm in length. There are 6-8 orbicular petals, when fully grown around 2-3mm in diameter, more or less cohering (largely as the apices of all petals fold into a cylinder at the centre between the staminal filaments). There are up to 20-30 oil dots on the petals. The outer staminal filaments are some 3-8mm long. Anthers are roughly 0.8 by 0.5mm in size, with a terminal gland, reasonably conspicuous. Each locule has about 9-16 ovules. The rather stout style is some 3-8mm long, the same or slightly longer than the stamens. The edible fruit is of variable shape, from cylindrical to turbinate to pyriform. It is often galled and irregular, it is excavated at the apex and when mature 11-14 by 9-10mm in size. The calyx lobes are not obvious. The pericarp is succulent. Cells radiate from the endocarp to the exocarp. Seeds are about 7-8 by 7-8mm, with the testa apparently absent. The seedlings have about 3 pairs of reduced leaves, cataphylls, before the first pair of true leave appear, these cataphylls are some present between the leaves at later stages. At the tenth leaf stage, conspicuously quadrangled or shortly winged twigs appear, with a lanceolate to ovate leaf, whose apex is acuminate to acute, and a cuneate base. Oil dots are numerous, just visible to the naked eye, clearly visible with a hand-lens. Seeds germinate between 38-95 days.

The wood specific gravity is some 0.72-0.88, [6] wood density some 0.607g/cm3. [7]

Flowering occurs from January to March, June and November in Cambodia and Vietname, while fruiting is in March and April, June and August. [8] In Zhōngguó/China the tree flowers in March and April, fruiting in May and June. The specimens identified in Kerala, India flower and fruit from March to May, [9] while those in the Sikkim Himalaya fruit from August to October. [10]

Discussing the Papuasian subgenus Perkion, Craven distinguishes S. claviflorum in having the bark on the inflorescence branchlet of granular-papillate texture and having a flat staminal disc. [11] Traits used to distinguish S. claviflorum from other Szygium species in Cambodia and Vietnam are the large leaf blade (6-22 by 1.5-7.5cm); and the long petiole (0.3-0.6cm). [8]

Phylogeny

This species is in the subgenus Perikion, for which it is the type species. [12] At a lower level it is in a clade with siblings Syzygium apodophyllum , S. corynanthum and Syzygium canicortex .

Distribution

The tree grows on the Australian continent and across Wallacea, Southeast Asia to India and up to southern Zhōngguó/China. [2] [6] [4] [1] Countries and regions where the plant is native include: Australia (central- and north-eastern Queensland and Cape York; Yermalner/Melville Island, Bathurst Island, Northern Territory); Papua Niugini (eastern New Guinea); Indonesia (West Papua, Aru Islands, Sulawesi, Kalimantan, Jawa); Philippines; Malaysia (Sabah, Sarawak, Peninsular Malaysia); Thailand; Cambodia; Vietnam; Zhōngguó/China (Hainan, Yunnan); Laos; Myanmar; Bangladesh; India (Andaman Islands, Assam, Meghalaya, Sikkim); Bhutan; Eastern Himalaya; Sri Lanka. The species has been reported from southern India, in the southern Western Ghats in the state of Kerala. [9]

Habitat, ecology

In Australia, the tree grows in well developed gallery forest and in lowland and upland rainforest on a variety of sites. [6] It occurs from sea level to 800m altitude. In Southeast Asia it primarily occurs in dense lowland forests. [3] In Zhōngguó/China the tree is found in dense or open angiosperm evergreen forest in valley and in the hills, with an elevation range of below 100m to 1300m. [4]

In North Queensland rainforests the taxa grows best on basic volcanic/basalt derived soils. [5]

Growing in New Guinea and the Aru Islands, the species occurs in a wide variety of communities: oak forest, rainforest, swamp forest, mangrove edges, riparian forest edges, riverine forest, lowland hill forest, tall open forest, forest on low stony hills, and oak-beech forest; at elevations from sea level to 2750m. [11]

The populations in Cambodia and Vietnam are found in lowland to montane forests, including primary, secondary and beach forest, up to 1050m elevation. [8]

On top of the plateau of Bokor National Park (Kampot Province, Cambodia, at some 1045m.a.s.l., this species grows as a shrub or small tree (2-4m tall) amongst a sclerophyllous stunted forest community on rocky soils. [13] [14] It is also reported as common in open bogs at between 930 and 1043m.

In the Chemunji Hills, Kerala it is common along streams in evergreen forest, while in Ponmudi, Kerala, it is common in exposed rocky areas of evergreen forests. [9] At both localities associated species are Polyalthia malabarica , Syzygium gardneri , S. lanceolatum , S. munroi , Elaeocarpus serratus var. weibelii, and Aporosa acuminata .

Conservation

The "Least Concern" rating by the IUCN (see infobox above) is a result of the species having a large population, a very wide distribution and no current or future major threats have been identified. [1] However the IUCN notes that there is "[c]ontinuing decline in area, extent and/or quality of habitat." However in the Northern Territory, Australia, the plant is listed by the government as "Near Threatened", as the distribution of the tree is limited to Yermalner/Melville Island and Bathurst Island. [15] [16]

Vernacular names

Uses

The wood is a useful structural timber, and in Australia is marketed under the name grey satinash. [6] People who live in the Bung Khong Long Non-Hunting Area (Nong Khai Province, Thailand) use the bark for dyeing nets (to enhance their strength) and the fruit as cattle feed. [17] In Cambodia the fruit are eaten and the wood is good firewood for heating. [3] In the Chittagong region of Myanmar and in Kerala and the Sikkim Himalaya, the fruit are eaten locally. [9] [10]

History

The species was described in 1841 by the German physician and botanist Ernst Gottlieb von Steudel (1783-1841), whose main work was on grasses. [18] He published the description in the second edition of his work Nomenclator botanicus (1840-1). [19] He was building on others work. Firstly that of Nathaniel Wallich (1786-1854), the Danmark-born botanist who worked in India, who did not quite validly describe the taxa. Before that, William Roxburgh (1751-1815), a Scottish surgeon and botanist who worked in India, had described the basionym taxa, that which this present accepted taxa is based: Eugenia claviflora Roxb. This was described in 1832 in Roxburgh's posthumously published work Flora Indica; or, Descriptions of Indian Plants.

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<i>Syzygium</i> Genus of plants

Syzygium is a genus of flowering plants that belongs to the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. The genus comprises about 1200 species, and has a native range that extends from Africa and Madagascar through southern Asia east through the Pacific. Its highest levels of diversity occur from Malaysia to northeastern Australia, where many species are very poorly known and many more have not been described taxonomically. One indication of this diversity is in leaf size, ranging from as little as a half inch to as great as 4 ft 11 inches by sixteen inches in Syzygium acre of New Caledonia.

<i>Syzygium smithii</i> Species of tree

Syzygium smithii is a summer-flowering, winter-fruiting evergreen tree, native to Australia and belonging to the myrtle family Myrtaceae. It shares the common name "lilly pilly" with several other plants.It is planted as shrubs or hedgerows, and features: rough, woody bark; cream and green smooth, waxy leaves; flushes of pink new growth; and white to maroon edible berries. Unpruned, it will grow about 3–5 m (9.8–16.4 ft) tall in the garden.

<i>Aglaia spectabilis</i> Species of tree found near the Pacific and Indian coasts

Aglaia spectabilis is a species of tree in the family Meliaceae, found from the Santa Cruz Islands in the southwest Pacific to Queensland (Australia), Southeast Asia, Yunnan (Zhōngguó/China) and the Indian subcontinent. It grows from a 1m shrub to an emergent 40m tall tree, depending on the habitat. Its wood is commercially exploited as timber, but otherwise is of poor quality with limited use. The fruit are eaten, and used in folk medicine. The seeds are large in comparison to other plants, and a major source of dispersal of the species are hornbills eating the fruit, flying away from the tree and regurgitating the seeds.

<i>Campylospermum serratum</i> Species of shrub or tree

Campylospermum serratum is a plant in the family Ochnaceae. The specific epithet serratum is from the Latin meaning "with teeth", referring to the leaf margin. It is found in Tropical Asia, from Sulawesi, Indonesia to Hainan, Zhōngguó/China and over to southwester India. Gomphia serrata was a previous common name for the species. The plant is used for it wood and its sap is used in folk medicine and in the past for teeth-blackening.

<i>Syzygium oleosum</i> Species of tree

Syzygium oleosum, common names include blue lilly pilly, Scented satinash, and blue cherry. It is a species of Syzygium tree native to the eastern Australian rainforests and wet sclerophyll forests.

<i>Syzygium australe</i> Species of tree

Syzygium australe, with many common names that include brush cherry, scrub cherry, creek lilly-pilly, creek satinash, and watergum, is a rainforest tree native to eastern Australia. It can attain a height of up to 35 m with a trunk diameter of 60 cm. In cultivation, this species is usually a small to medium-sized tree with a maximum height of only 18m.

<i>Syzygium fibrosum</i> Species of tree in the family Myrtaceae

Syzygium fibrosum is a species of rainforest trees native to monsoon forests of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Australia. Common names include small red apple, (Bamaga) fibrous satinash and apricot satinash.

<i>Syzygium corynanthum</i> Species of tree

Syzygium corynanthum, commonly known as sour cherry and Killarney satinash, is a common Australian tree which grows in surrounding areas from Taree, New South Wales to tropical Queensland.The habitat of Syzygium corynanthum is rainforest on basaltic or fertile alluvial soils.

<i>Syzygium francisii</i> Species of tree

Syzygium francisii is a native Australian tree, common on the eastern sea board, between Morisset, New South Wales and Gladstone, Queensland. Common names include giant water gum, rose satinash, and Francis water gum. The habitat of Syzygium francisii is rainforest on basaltic or fertile alluvial soils.

<i>Syzygium hemilamprum</i> Species of tree

Syzygium hemilamprum, commonly known as the broad-leaved lilly pilly, blush satinash, cassowary gum, Eungella gum, and treated as Acmena hemilampra in New South Wales and Queensland, is a species of flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae and is native to New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory. It is a rainforest tree with broadly lance-shaped to elliptic leaves, panicles of white flowers and more or less spherical white fruit.

<i>Elaeocarpus lanceifolius</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Elaeocarpaceae

Elaeocarpus lanceifolius is a tree species in the family Elaeocarpaceae. It is found across tropical Asia from Thailand to Yunnan to Nepal to Karnataka, India. It is used for its wood, fruit, and nuts.

<i>Syzygium cormiflorum</i> Species of tree in the family Myrtaceae endemic to Queensland

Syzygium cormiflorum, commonly known as the bumpy satinash, is a species of Syzygium tree endemic to Queensland in northeastern Australia.

<i>Antidesma ghaesembilla</i> Species of plant in Phyllanthaceae family

Antidesma ghaesembilla is a species of plant in the Phyllanthaceae family. It is native to an area from northern Australia to the Philippines, Zhōngguó/China, and west to India. The shrub or tree usually grows in moist soils in plant communities ranging from savannah to gallery forest to closed forest. It is associated with a number of species of fungus, insects and animals, including emus. Amongst the Mangarrayi and Yangman people of north Australia, the sweet ripe fruit of the tree are much appreciated and linked to the build-up season and to the koel. As well as food, the plant is used as a calendar-plant, for dyeing, in traditional medicine, in religious/magical practices, as fuel, and as an insecticide.

<i>Syzygium alliiligneum</i> Species of plant in the family Myrtaceae

Syzygium alliiligneum, commonly known as onionwood, Mission Beach satinash or bark in the wood is a species of plant in the family Myrtaceae. It is endemic to a small part of north eastern Queensland.

<i>Syzygium angophoroides</i> Species of tree

Syzygium angophoroides, commonly known as bark in wood, Yarrabah satinash, or swamp satinash, is a tree of the family Myrtaceae native to Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland in Australia. It typically grows to a height of 6 to 35 metres. It blooms between July and November producing cream flowers.

<i>Syzygium forte</i> Species of plant in the family Myrtaceae

Syzygium forte, commonly known as flaky-barked satinash, white apple or brown satinash, is a tree in the family Myrtaceae native to New Guinea and northern Australia.

Syzygium canicortex, commonly known as yellow satinash, is a tree of the family Myrtaceae native to Queensland.

Calamus latifolius is a climbing plant, part of a subfamily, Calamoideae, whose members are usually called rattans in English, they are part of the Arecaceae, or palm, family.

Syzygium apodophyllum is a tree in the Myrtaceae family endemic to north Queensland. The fruit is edible. It is a host for the exotic plant-pathogen fungus Austropuccinia psidii, which is causing a lot of damage to vegetation communities and economic plants.

<i>Syzygium tierneyanum</i> Species of plant in the family Myrtaceae

Syzygium tierneyanum, commonly known as river cherry, water cherry, or Bamaga satinash, is a tree in the family Myrtaceae which is native to New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and north east Queensland. It often grows along watercourses where it is a facultative rheophyte.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Ye, J., Liu, H., Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) & IUCN SSC Global Tree Specialist Group (2019). "Syzygium claviflorum". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . IUCN. 2019: e.T147615580A147615582. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-2.RLTS.T147615580A147615582.en . S2CID   242094413 . Retrieved 8 February 2021.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. 1 2 "Syzygium claviflorum (Roxb.) Wall. ex Steud". Plants of the World Online (POWO). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Pauline Dy Phon (2000). Plants Utilised In Cambodia/Plantes utilisées au Cambodge. Phnom Penh: Imprimerie Olympic. pp. 14, 15.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Chen, Jie; Craven, Lyn A. "FOC: Family List: FOC Vol. 13: Myrtaceae: Syzygium: 21. Syzygium claviflorum (Roxburgh) Wallich ex Steudel, Nomencl. Bot., ed. 2. 2: 657. 1841". Flora of China. eFloras.org. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  5. 1 2 3 Vanclay, J.K. (1989). "A Growth Model for North Queensland Rainforests". Forest Ecology and Management. 27 (245–271): 245–271. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.404.1431 . doi:10.1016/0378-1127(89)90110-2.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 F.A.Zich; B.P.M.Hyland; T.Whiffen; R.A.Kerrigan (2020). "Syzygium claviflorum". Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants Edition 8 (RFK8). Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research (CANBR), Australian Government . Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  7. ↑ "Syzygium claviflorum (Roxb.) Wall. ex A. M. & J. M. Cowan". Encyclopedia of Life. eol.org. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Soh, Wuu-Kuang; Parnell, John (2015). "A revision of Syzygium Gaertn. (Myrtaceae) in Indochina (Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam)" (PDF). Adansonia. Série 3. 37 (2): 179-275. doi: 10.5252/a2015n2a1 . S2CID   85839821 . Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Shareef, S.M.; Geetha Kumary, M.P.; Santhosh Kumar, E.S.; Shaju, T. (2010). "Syzygium clavifl orum (Myrtaceae) – A new record for South India". Rheedea. 20 (1): 53–55. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  10. 1 2 3 Sundriyal, Manju; Sundriyal, R.C.; Sharma, E. (2004). "Dietary use of wild Pplant resources in the Sikkim Himalaya, India". Economic Botany. 58 (4): 626–638. doi:10.1663/0013-0001(2004)058[0626:DUOWPR]2.0.CO;2. S2CID   23906536 . Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  11. 1 2 Craven, L.A. (2019). "Studies in Papuasian Syzygium (Myrtaceae): 1. Subgenus Perikion revised". Blumea. 64 (2): 115–122. doi: 10.3767/blumea.2019.64.02.03 .
  12. ↑ Craven, L.A.; Biffin, E. (2010). "An infrageneric classification of Syzygium (Myrtaceae)". Blumea. 55: 94–99. doi:10.3767/000651910X499303. S2CID   83644663 . Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  13. ↑ Rundel, Philip W.; Middleton, David J. (2017). "Flora of Bokor Plateau, southeastern Cambodia: a homage to Pauline Dy Phon". Cambodian Journal of Natural History. 1: 17–37.
  14. ↑ Rundel, Philip W.; Sharifi, M. Rasoul; King-Rundel, Judith; Middleton, David J. (2019). "Leaf traits in the dwarf montane heathland of the Bokor Plateau, Cambodia". Cambodian Journal of Natural History. 2: 77–84. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  15. ↑ Westaway, John O. (2016). "The pathogen Myrtle Rust (Puccinia psidii) in the Northern Territory: First detection, new host and potential impacts" (PDF). Northern Territory Naturalist. 27: 13–28. doi:10.5962/p.295464. S2CID   135388026 . Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  16. ↑ "Syzygium claviflorum (Roxb.) Wall. ex Steud". Atlas of Living Australia. NCRIS, CSIRO, GBIF. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  17. ↑ Suksri, Siriwan; Premcharoen, Siraprapha; Thawatphan, Chitraporn; Sangthongprow, Suvit (2005). "Ethnobotany in Bung Khong Long Non-Hunting Area, Northeast Thailand". Kasetsart J. (Nat. Sci.). 39: 519–533. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  18. ↑ "Syzygium claviflorum (Roxb.) Wall. ex Steud., Nomencl. Bot. [Steudel], ed. 2. 2: 657 (1841)". International Plant Name Index (IPNI). The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  19. ↑ "Nomenclator botanicus, seu, Synonymia plantarum universalis Volume: 1". Biodiversity Heritage Library. biodiversitylibrary.org. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
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