| Flakey-barked satinash | |
|---|---|
 | |
| A street planting in Edge Hill, Queensland | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Myrtales |
| Family: | Myrtaceae |
| Genus: | Syzygium |
| Species: | S. forte |
| Binomial name | |
| Syzygium forte | |
| Synonyms | |
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 forte typically grows up to 25 metres (82 ft) in height in its native habitat, with reddish brown or pinkish, flakey bark. [7] [8] [9] The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs on the twigs and are mid green in colour, paler below. They are somewhat leathery and have revolute margins. The leaf lamina measure up to 14 by 8 centimetres (5.5 by 3.1 in) with a thick and pale mid-rib. Those of subspecies S. f. forte are usually orbicular to obovate, [8] while those of subspecies S. f. potamophilum can be narrowly ovate, elliptic or lanceolate. [10]
Flowering occurs between September and January. The much-branched inflorescence terminates the leafy twigs in subspecies S. f. forte, and are produced below the leaves or inside the crown in subspecies S. f. potamophilum. [8] [10] The white flowers form in dense clusters with multiple white stamens.
The fruits are a globular white berry up to 6 centimetres (2 in) diameter, containing a single large seed. [11] [12]
This species was first formally described as Eugenia fortis by the German born Australian botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in 1865 as part of his massive work Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae . In 1983 the species was reclassified by Bernie Hyland in his paper A revision of Syzygium and allied genera (Myrtaceae) in Australia., which was published in the Australian Journal of Botany Supplementary Series. [13]
As of November 2022 [update] there are two recognised subspecies, as follows:
The genus name Syzygium was coined by Joseph Gaertner in 1788, and is taken from the Greek word syzgos , meaning "jointed" and is a reference to the paired leaves displayed by members of the genus. [17] The species epithet forte is from the Latin fortis meaning 'strong'. [18]
Syzygium forte is native to New Guinea and the northern parts of Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland in Australia. The subspecies S.f. potamophilum is found in all three states, and is the only species found in Western Australia. It is thought to be endemic to Australia. The other, S.f. forte, is found in the Northern Territory, Queensland and New Guinea. [7] [15]
It prefers sandy soils and is both cyclone resistant and salt tolerant. As a result it is commonly found in beach forests and rocky headlands, but is also found in rainforests to an altitude of around 450 metres (1,480 ft). [7] [11] [19]
In Western Australia this species is found in gallery forest along watercourses in the Kimberley region, where it grows in sandstone soils up to 200 metres (660 ft) above sea level. [9] [15]
The fruit are eaten by cassowaries and fruit bats. [7] [19] The flowers attract many species of birds and insects.
Indigenous Australians ate the fruit [19] [20] and used the leaves as a fish poison. [21]
This species is too large for most private gardens but is useful as a park and street tree. [7] The Cairns Regional Council has planted well over 400 of both subspecies combined throughout the city and suburbs. [22]
The tree sometimes produces timber worth milling, with a density of approximately 0.69 to 0.96 kg/L. [7]
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.
Agathis robusta, commonly known as Dundathu pine, kauri pine, Queensland kauri (pine), Australian kauri (pine) or smooth-barked kauri, is a coniferous tree in the family Araucariaceae. Although sometimes called a pine it is not a true pine, having leaves rather than needles. It has a disjunct distribution, occurring in eastern New Guinea and New Britain in Papua New Guinea and Queensland, Australia.
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.
Atractocarpus fitzalanii, commonly known as the brown gardenia or yellow mangosteen, is a species of plant in the coffee and madder family Rubiaceae. It is found in coastal parts of tropical Queensland, Australia. The beautifully scented flowers and glossy foliage has seen this plant enter cultivation in gardens of eastern Australia.
Syzygium cormiflorum, commonly known as the bumpy satinash, is a species of Syzygium tree endemic to Queensland in northeastern Australia.
Buckinghamia celsissima, commonly known as the ivory curl tree, ivory curl flower or spotted silky oak, is a species of tree in the family Proteaceae. It is endemic to the tropical rainforests of northeastern Queensland, Australia.
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.
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.
Palaquium galactoxylum, commonly known as Cairns pencil cedar, Daintree maple or red silkwood, is a species of plants in the star apple family Sapotaceae which is endemic to rainforests of New Guinea and northern Australia. It can produce spectacularly large buttress roots.
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.
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.
Mackinlaya macrosciadea, commonly known as mackinlaya or blue umbrella, is a plant in the carrot, fennel and parsley family Apiaceae, found in the Northern Territory and Queensland, Australia.
Syzygium unipunctatum, commonly known as the rolypoly satinash, is a small tree in the family Myrtaceae. It is endemic to the rainforests of the Wet Tropics of Queensland.
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.
Syzygium branderhorstii, commonly known as the Lockerbie satinash, is a small tree in the family Myrtaceae found in New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, Solomon Islands, Santa Cruz Islands, and northern Queensland, Australia. It is cauliflorous, producing large inflorescences from the trunk. The fruits are eaten by brush turkeys.
Adenia heterophylla, commonly known in Australia as the lacewing vine, is a climbing plant in the family Passifloraceae. It has a broad distribution spanning the equator, from the south eastern corner of China, through Indochina and Malesia, to northern Australia. In Australia it serves as a food plant for larvae of the glasswing, red lacewing and cruiser butterflies.
Hypserpa laurina is a slender twining climber in the plant family Menispermaceae. It is native to New Guinea and north eastern Queensland in Australia.
Xanthophyllum octandrum, commonly known as Macintyre's boxwood, false jitta, yellow boxwood or sovereignwood, is a slow-growing tree in the milkwort family Polygalaceae which has the potential to reach thousands of years of age. It is endemic to coastal northeastern Queensland, Australia.
Syzygium sayeri, commonly known as pink satinash, is a plant in the family Myrtaceae which is native to northeastern Queensland, Australia, and New Guinea.
Syzygium puberulum, commonly known as white satinash or downy satinash, is a plant in the family Myrtaceae which is native to rainforests of Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, and Papua New Guinea. It was first described in 1942.
