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Syzygium luehmannii | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Myrtales |
Family: | Myrtaceae |
Genus: | Syzygium |
Species: | S. luehmannii |
Binomial name | |
Syzygium luehmannii | |
Syzygium luehmannii is a medium-sized coastal rainforest tree native to Australia. Common names include riberry, small leaved lilly pilly, cherry satinash, cherry alder, or clove lilli pilli.
The habitat is Australian riverine, littoral, subtropical or tropical rainforest. [1] It grows on volcanic soils or deep sandy soils between the Macleay River in New South Wales to near Cairns in tropical Queensland. It is commonly grown as an ornamental tree and for its fruit, known as a riberry.
Occasionally reaching 30 metres in height and 90 cm in trunk diameter, the tree's crown is dense with small leaves, above a tall straight trunk. Large trees are buttressed at the base. The bark is red brown, light grey or pinkish grey with soft papery scales.
The small, glossy, lance-shaped leaves are a shiny green when mature, but pink/red when young. They are opposite, simple, entire, lanceolate to ovate, 4 to 5 cm long, drawn out to a long prominent point. The leaf stalks are 2 to 3 mm long.
Flowers form in November or December. They are in small panicles at the ends of branchlets, half the length of the leaves or less. The white or cream petals form in fours or fives, 1.5 mm long. The stamina are 2 to 5 mm long.
The fruit matures from December to February, being a pear-shaped red berry, known as a riberry, growing to 13 mm long, covering a single seed, 4 mm in diameter. Seed germination is unreliable, complete after 25 days; however, cuttings strike readily. The fruit is eaten by the Australasian figbird, emu, and flying fox (pteropus).
The tree commonly only reaches 8–10 metres in cultivation. The berry has a tart, cranberry-like flavour, with a hint of cloves. It has been popular as a gourmet bushfood since the early 1980s and is commercially cultivated on a small-scale basis.
The fruit is most commonly used to make a distinctively flavoured jam and is also used in sauces, syrups and confectionery. It can also be eaten and enjoyed straight off the tree. The riberry plant is also very popular as a garden ornamental and street tree. It is easily maintained as a smaller tree by light pruning.
Syzygium cumini, commonly known as Malabar plum, Java plum, black plum, jamun, jaman, jambul, or jambolan, is an evergreen tropical tree in the flowering plant family Myrtaceae, and favored for its fruit, timber, and ornamental value. It is native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, including Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the Andaman Islands. It can reach heights of up to 30 metres (98 ft) and can live more than 100 years. A rapidly growing plant, it is considered an invasive species in many world regions.
Backhousia citriodora, commonly known as lemon myrtle, lemon scented myrtle or lemon scented ironwood, is a flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae. It is endemic to subtropical rainforests of central and south-eastern Queensland, Australia, with a natural distribution from Mackay to Brisbane.
Bush tucker, also called bush food, is any food native to Australia and historically eaten by Indigenous Australians, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, but it can also describe any native flora, fauna, or fungi used for culinary or medicinal purposes, regardless of the continent or culture. Animal native foods include kangaroo, emu, witchetty grubs and crocodile, and plant foods include fruits such as quandong, kutjera, spices such as lemon myrtle and vegetables such as warrigal greens and various native yams.
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.
Tasmannia lanceolata, commonly known as pepper tree, native pepper, mountain pepper or mountain pepperbush, is a species of flowering plant in the family Winteraceae, and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is a dioecious bushy shrub to small tree with lance-shaped or narrowly ellipic leaves, male and female flowers on separate plants, the flowers with 3 to 9 petals, and the fruit a deep maroon to glossy black berry.
Syzygium paniculatum, the magenta lilly pilly or magenta cherry, is a species of flowering plant in the myrtle family Myrtaceae, native to New South Wales, Australia. A broad dense bushy rainforest tree, in cultivation it grows to a height of 15 m (49 ft) with a trunk diameter up to 35 cm (14 in). The largest known example is at Ourimbah Creek, 35 m (115 ft) metres tall. The leaves are 3–9 cm (1.2–3.5 in) long, opposite, simple and slightly obovate, tapering at the leaf base. They are dark glossy green above, and paler below. White flowers are produced in clusters. The edible fruit is usually magenta, but can be white, pink or purple. The seeds are polyembryonic.
Davidsonia is a genus containing three rainforest tree species native to Australia, commonly known as the Davidson plum or Davidson's plum. The fruits superficially resemble the European plum, but are not closely related. All species have an edible sour fruit with burgundy-coloured flesh and are highly regarded as gourmet bushfood.
Syzygium anisatum, with common names ringwood and aniseed tree, is a rare Australian rainforest tree with an aromatic leaf that has an essential oil profile comparable to true aniseed.
Citrus glauca, commonly known as the desert lime, is a thorny shrub or small tree native to Queensland, New South Wales, and South Australia. The 1889 book The Useful Native Plants of Australia records the common names native kumquat and desert lemon.
Acronychia acidula, commonly known as lemon aspen or lemon wood, is a species of small to medium-sized rainforest tree that is endemic to Queensland. It has simple, elliptical leaves, small groups of flowers in leaf axils and more or less spherical fruit. The aromatic and acidic fruit is harvested as a bushfood.
The modern Australian native food industry, also called the bushfood industry, had its initial beginnings in the 1970s and early 1980s, when regional enthusiasts and researchers started to target local native species for use as food. Indigenous Australians had been harvesting many species for use as food and medicines for millennia. In the mid 1970s Brian Powell recognised the commercial potential of quangdong fruit and began its cultivation in orchards. Following this, the CSIRO became involved in quangdong research.
Diploglottis campbellii is a rainforest tree northern New South Wales and southeastern Queensland. Growing to 30 metres tall, it is commonly known as the small-leaved tamarind. It is rare and threatened and is restricted to a small number of sites, each with a maximum of 3 trees per site. However, it is readily available from nurseries in the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales, and in south-eastern Queensland.
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.
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.
Austromyrtus dulcis is a species of plant native to eastern Australia. It grows as a small spreading shrub and is easily recognised by its characteristic berries that usually ripen in summer and autumn. Common names include the midgen berry, midyim, and silky myrtle.
Glochidion ferdinandi, with common names that include cheese tree, is a species of small to medium–sized trees, constituting part of the plant family Phyllanthaceae. They grow naturally across eastern Australia, from south–eastern New South Wales northwards to northern and inland Queensland, in rainforests and humid eucalypt forests. Frugivorous birds such as pigeons, figbirds and parrots consume its fruit. The tree roots and branches are toxic to dogs, causing liver failure and death.
Elaeocarpus bancroftii, commonly known as Kuranda quandong, Johnstone River almond, ebony heart, grey nut, or nut tree is a large rainforest tree in the family Elaeocarpaceae which is endemic to Queensland. It has coriaceous leaves, attractive white flowers and relatively large fruit containing an edible kernel.
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.
Diploglottis diphyllostegia, commonly known as the northern tamarind, native tamarind or wild tamarind, is a tree in the lychee family Sapindaceae which is endemic to Queensland, Australia. It is an attractive tree with potential in cultivation, with a dense crown of dark green leaves and masses of fruit in spring and summer.
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