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Syzygium craibii

Interesting Facts

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Description

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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]

Taxonomy

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Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 11-Nov-2003

Similar Species

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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

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Notes

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Contributors

Identifiers

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]
Last Revised: 7/24/2012