Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Syzygium mackinnonianum (B.Hyland) Craven & Biffin


Tree
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Flowers [not vouchered]. © G. Sankowsky
Flowers [not vouchered]. © G. Sankowsky
Leaves and flowers [not vouchered]. © G. Sankowsky
Leaves and fruit [not vouchered]. © G. Sankowsky
Scale bar 10mm. © CSIRO
Habit, flower bud, anther, fruit, seedling. © CSIRO
10th leaf stage. © CSIRO
Cotyledon stage, hypogeal germination. © CSIRO
Flower bud, side view. © CSIRO
Flower bud, oblique view. © CSIRO
Flower, oblique bird's-eye view of perianth, stamens & style. © CSIRO
Family

Craven, L.A., Biffin, E. & Ashton, P.S. (2006) Blumea 51(1): 138.

Common name

Satinash, Rocky River; Rocky River Satinash

Stem

Bark sparsely but coarsely flaky, like Syzygium gustavioides. Blaze has a purplish sheen when the living bark is stripped off.

Leaves

Leaf blades about 5.5-9.5 x 2.7-4.7 cm, petioles about 0.3-0.6 cm long. Oil dots visible with a lens if not visible to the naked eye. Oil dots frequently sparse, occasionally numerous. Usually two somewhat obscure intramarginal veins.

Flowers

Inflorescence bracts deciduous; present or absent at anthesis. Calyx tube (hypanthium) + pedicel about 3-4 mm long, calyx tube (hypanthium) about 2-2.5 mm diam., calyx lobes +/- uniform, rounded, concave, about 0.5 mm long. Petals +/- orbicular, about 1.5 mm diam.; oil dots comparatively large and conspicuous, about 40 or more per petal. Outer staminal filaments about 0.5 mm long, anthers wider than long, about 0.2 x 0.4 mm, gland comparatively large, conspicuous, terminal. Placentas confined to the apex of each locule. Ovules pendulous, about four per locule. Style about 1.4-1.6 mm long.

Fruit

Fruits hemispherical to depressed globular, attaining about 35-40 x 40 mm, calyx lobes deciduous, but the apex of the fruit marked with a tonsure-like scar attaining about 20-30 mm diam., pericarp rather leathery, brittle, granular in texture. Seed about 15-20 x 20-30 mm. Cotyledons scarcely separable, joined by the haustorium-like intrusion from the apex of the fruit, so that the cotyledons are +/- ruminate or at least texturally different towards the centre.

Seedlings

Cataphylls about 3 or 4 pairs. At the tenth leaf stage: seedling completely glabrous, leaf blade lanceolate or ovate, apex acute, base cuneate, a double intramarginal vein present; oil dots numerous, almost visible to the naked eye and clearly visible with a lens. Seed germination time 40 days.

Distribution and Ecology

Endemic to CYP, restricted to the Iron Range and McIlwraith Range areas. Altitudinal range from sea level to 500 m. Grows in well developed lowland and upland rain forest.

Natural History & Notes

This species is not used commercially at present but produces millable logs that could be sawn for structural timber. Wood specific gravity 0.91. Hyland (1983).

Synonyms
Acmena mackinnoniana B.Hyland, Australian Journal of Botany Supplementary Series 9: 14(1983), Type: B. Hyland 3307 RFK: Timber Reserve 14, 23.ix.1975 (holotypus QRS).
RFK Code
695
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