Syzygium aromaticum

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

German bot. Rumphius 1741 described. Spanish and Portuguese galleons could finance a year's travel fron a cargo of cloves delivered to Spain. A surviving ship from Magellan's voyage around the world in 1522 had 22 tons of cloves, paying for the cost of the expedition . esp. flower peduncles, leaves or flower buds. Eugenol from leaf oil . Previously used to make vanillin. Kreteks started in 1916. 1980-1984 used 50,000 metric tons per year; rest of world market 6000 tons. From 5 isl of N.Moluccas (Spice isalbds) Ternate , Tidore, Moti, Makian and Bacan. Also home to nutmeg. Han dynasty 220-260BC, courtiers had to sweeten breath with cloves before talking to emperor. (R.H. Crofton, 1936 a pageant of the spice islands). In China and Persia considered an aphrodisiac , stimulant and carminative. Chinese encourage more planting e.g. Ambon and Seram. Cengkeh Indonesian = from Chinese. In Alexandria by 176 AD, traded around Med by 4th C. Source sought- Vasco de Gama 1498, Calicut Malibar coast SW India. 1514 reached spice islands and occupied, Controlled until 1605 when Dutch took over for 200yrs. 1651 killing all trees except Ambon (where introduced ), cultiavation not allowed (but custom was to plant a tree for every child born). 1789 Cayenne via Mauritius, then Caribbean. By contrast Sultan of Zanzibar ordered landowners to cultivate after 1818, so Z and P soon world leaders . Ironically, reintroduction from this limited getic 'Zanzibar' stock, which byieled bettern than own stock, is now the basis of ba thriving industry . In the 1960s-70s Zanzibar clove industry declined due to nationalisation and break up of plantations (Smith et al 1992). Dried unopened flower buds. Most used in kretek cigarettes 5 small islands in the Moluucas, cultivated >2000 years, used by Chinese in Han Dynasty (220-206BC), rexported ? planted in Ambon and Ceram. Europe by AD 176. 15 and 16 one of stimulai for explorers-> discovery of the Moluccas. Spices dominated by Portug until Dutch took over in 17th C. Sought monopoly and destroyed elsewhere. 1770s French took to Mauritius and Reunion, where one tree thought to form basis of all planted in Mad and Reunion. Zanzibar 1818. The to French Caribbean. Not much variation . (Simmons and Smartt, 1995) 1519 Magellan began his circumnavigation of South America, exploring trade routes. Nearly 3 years later, on 8 September 1522, 18 of the original 250 crewmen (lacking Magellan, who died on the isle of Mactan in April, 1521) returned to Seville, with 1 of the 5 ships that started (only the Victoria made the entire voyage). Even given such great losses, the 26 tons of cloves, sacks of nutmeg, mace, and cinnamon, and load of sandalwood returned to Spain covered the entire expedition cost. The returning captain, Sebastian del Cana, was given a pension and awarded a coat of arms that displays two cinnamon sticks , three nutmegs, and 12 cloves. A journal detailing exploits of this voyage was maintained by Antonio Pigafetta, gentleman-adventurer, and published subsequently as Primo Viaggio Intorno al Mondo. (Rosengarten, 1969; Boorstin, 1983)

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Family Myrtaceae

Trees or shrubs , evergreen , usually with essential oils-containing cavities in foliage , branchlets , and flowers. Stipules absent or small and caducous . Leaves opposite, occasionally alternate, occasionally ternate or pseudo-whorled; leaf blade with secondary veins pinnate or basal, often with intramarginal veins near margin , margin usually entire. Inflorescences axillary or terminal , cymose but variously arranged, 1- to many-flowered. Flowers bisexual , sometimes polygamous, actinomorphic . Hypanthium usually adnate to ovary and prolonged above it. Calyx lobes (3 or) 4 or 5 or more, distinct or connate into a calyptra. Petals 4 or 5, sometimes absent, distinct or connate into a calyptra, sometimes coherent and pseudocalyptrate. Stamens usually numerous , in 1 to several whorls; filaments distinct or connate into 5 bundles opposite petals; anthers 2-celled, dorsifixed or basifixed , dehiscing longitudinally or rarely terminally; connectives usually terminating in 1 or more apical glands . Ovary inferior, semi-inferior, or very rarely superior, carpels 2 to more, locules 1 to many, pseudoseptum sometimes present, placentation usually axile but occasionally parietal ; ovules 1 to several per locule. Style single; stigma single. Fruit a capsule, berry, drupaceous berry, or drupe, 1- to many-seeded. Seeds without endosperm or endosperm sparse and thin; testa cartilaginous or thinly membranous, sometimes absent; embryo straight or curved .

About 130 genera and 4500-5000 species: Mediterranean region, sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar, tropical and temperate Asia, Australia, Pacific islands, tropical and South America; 10 genera (five introduced ) and 121 species (50 endemic, 32 introduced treated here) in China.

Many Myrtaceae are cultivated garden ornamentals , street trees, or plantation trees. Some members of tribe Syzygieae are grown as fruit crops. In addition to the cultivated members of the family treated here, some others grown in China include Acca sellowiana (O. Berg ) Burrett (Feijoa sellowiana (O. Berg) O. Berg), Myrtus communis Linnaeus, and Syncarpia glomulifera (Smith) Niedenzu.[1]

Genus Syzygium

Trees or shrubs . Branchlets sometimes 2-4-ridged, usually glabrous . Leaves opposite or sometimes whorled , petiolate to subsessile ; leaf blade densely to sometimes sparsely pinnately veined. Inflorescences terminal or axillary , usually panicles of cymes, 3- to many-flowered; bracts small, caducous after flowering. Flowers stipitate or not. Hypanthium obconic or sometimes clavate . Calyx lobes 4 or 5 or rarely more, usually short, caducous or persistent , apex usually obtuse , rarely connate and then calyptrate . Petals 4 or 5 or rarely more, distinct and then expanding separately or coherent and then caducous as a unit . Stamens numerous , distinct but occasionally slightly adhering at base ; anthers minute, versatile, 2-celled, cells parallel or divergent, dehiscing longitudinally or by a short terminal slit; connectives usually terminating in an apical gland . Ovary inferior, 2 or 3-loculed; ovules many per locule. Style linear . Fruit drupaceous , 1(or 2) -seeded. Seeds sometimes with or without a testa, often with a pseudotesta ± adhering to pericarp, rarely with intrusive branching tissue extending into and interlocking cotyledons; embryo usually uniembryonic, sometimes polyembryonic.

About 1200 species: tropical Africa, subtropical to tropical Asia, Australia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Pacific islands; 80 species (45 endemic, two introduced ) in China.

Syzygium is treated here in a broad sense with Acmena and Cleistocalyx included within it. Morphological and anatomical investigations, and molecular sequence studies of chloroplast and nuclear regions, provide support for such an expanded concept (Amer. J. Bot. 59: 423-436. 1972; Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 92: 433-489. 1972; Proc. Fourth Fl. Mal. Symp. 75-85. 2001; Austral . Syst. Bot. 17: 63-72. 2004; Taxon 55: 79-94. 2006).[2]

Physical Description

Biology

Growth

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .

Taxonomy

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 11-Nov-2003

Similar Species

Members of the genus Syzygium

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 20 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

S. angophoroides (Yarrabah Satinash) · S. aqueum (Watery Roseapple) · S. aromaticum (Clove) · S. australe 'Australis' (Australian Brush Cherry) · S. cumini (Indian Allspice) · S. grande (Sea Apple) · S. guineense (Water Pear) · S. jambos (Malabar Plum) · S. jambos 'Alston' (Malabar Plum) · S. javanicum (Java Plum) · S. luehmannii (Cherry Alder) · S. malaccense (Macopa) · S. malaccense 'Maroone' (Malay Apple) · S. oleosum (Blue Cherry) · S. paniculatum (Australian Brush Cherry) · S. polyanthum (Indonesian Bay Leaf) · S. pycnanthum (Wild Rose) · S. samarangense (Java Apple) · S. sandwicense ('ohi'a Ha) · S. wilsonii (Brush Cherry)

More Info

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Further Reading

• An annotated catalogue of types of the University of Illinois mycological collections (ILL) / Urbana: University of Illinois Press, c1997. url p. 174.
• Botanical Museum leaflets, Harvard University. 1949-1951 Cambridge, Mass.: Botanical Museum, Harvard University, 1932- url p. 206.
• Bulletin / Illinois Natural History Survey. Urbana, State of Illinois, Dept. of Registration and Education, Natural History Survey Division, 1918-1985. url p. 179.
• Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). London: The Museum, 1951-1992. url p. 347.
• Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 45 2003 Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1890- url p. 313, p. 405, p. 424, p. 582.
• Flora Costaricensis / William Burger, editor. 13 1983 Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, 1983. url p. 234.
• Flora Vitiensis nova: a new Flora of Fiji (spermatophytes only) / Albert C. Smith. Lawaii, Hawaii: Pacific Tropical Botanical Garden, 1979- url p. 314, p. 357.
• Journal of ethnobiology. 23 2003 Flagstaff, Ariz.: Center for Western Studies, 1981- url p. 11, p. 180, p. 208, p. 46, p. 62.
• List of intercepted plant pests / United States Department of Agriculture, Plant Quarantine and Control Administration. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O.], 1932- url p. 159, p. 88.
• The lipids, their chemistry and biochemistry. New York, Interscience Publishers, 1951-57. url p. 905.
• Chang Hung-ta & Miau Ru-hwai. 1984. Myrtaceae. In: Chen Chieh, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 53(1): 28-135.
• Chang Hung-ta & Miau Ru-hwai. 1984. Myrtaceae. In: Chen Chieh, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 53(1): 28-135.

Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 10, 2012.
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed March 15, 2008. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 4 providers.
• Ruggiero M., Gordon D., Bailly N., Kirk P., Nicolson D. (2011). The Catalogue of Life Taxonomic Classification, Edition 2, Part A. In: Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2011 Annual Checklist (Bisby F.A., Roskov Y.R., Orrell T.M., Nicolson D., Paglinawan L.E., Bailly N., Kirk P.M., Bourgoin T., Baillargeon G., Ouvrard D., eds). DVD; Species 2000: Reading, UK.
• The Virtual Field Herbarium.
• USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) [Online Database]. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. URL (May 01, 2008)
• USDA, NRCS. 2005. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.5 (http://plants.usda.gov). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.
• World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. Release date: November 27, 2009

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal March 15, 2008:

• Missouri Botanical Garden
• National Herbarium of New South Wales: Plants of Papua New Guinea

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2670196
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: Kew-199236
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 15649522
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:601421-1
• GRIN Nomen Number: 50069
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 506167
• U.S.D.A. Plant Symbol: SYAR2
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 65179

Footnotes

1. Jie Chen & Lyn A. Craven "Myrtaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 13 Page 321. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
2. "Syzygium". in Flora of China Vol. 13 Page 321, 335. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]

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