Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Eugenia reinwardtiana (Blume) DC.


Herb (herbaceous or woody, under 1 m tall)
Shrub (woody or herbaceous, 1-6 m tall)
Tree
Click/tap on images to enlarge
Leaves and flower [not vouchered]. CC-BY J.L. Dowe
Leaves and fruit. © CSIRO
Fruit, several side views, transverse section and seed. © W. T. Cooper
Scale bar 10mm. © CSIRO
Habit, flower & bud, anther, fruit, seedling. © CSIRO
10th leaf stage. © CSIRO
Cotyledon stage, hypogeal germination. © CSIRO
Family

Candolle, A.P. de (1828) Prodromus 3: 267.

Common name

Cedar Bay Cherry; Beach Cherry; Cherry, Beach

Stem

Occasionally grows into a small tree seldom exceeding 30 cm dbh but also flowers and fruits as a shrub.

Leaves

Leaf blades about 2-9 x 1-5 cm, petioles about 0.1-0.6 cm long. Oil dots visible with a lens if not visible to the naked eye. Terminal buds and young shoots clothed in pale, prostrate, silky hairs.

Flowers

Inflorescence axillary, never truly terminal, bracts persistent, pubescent, present at anthesis, about 1.5 x 0.7 mm. Flower buds pubescent. Pedicel absent but peduncles long and slender and usually ending in one flower. Calyx tube (hypanthium) pubescent, 2-4 x 2-4 mm, calyx lobes rounded, concave adaxially, more sparsely pubescent than the calyx tube (hypanthium), dimorphic, inner lobes larger, about 2.5-3 mm long, +/- horizontal at anthesis. Petals +/- orbicular, glabrous except for the ciliate margins, about 3-3.5 mm diam., oil dots variable in number, about 30-70 per petal. Outer anther filaments about 3-5 mm long, anthers about 0.5-0.6 x 0.6-0.8 mm, gland inconspicuous, small, terminal, staminal disk broad, +/- level and conforming with the apex of the ovary. Ovules about 6-14 per locule. Style about 2.5-5.5 mm long, approximating the stamens.

Fruit

Fruits globular, depressed globular or ovoid, sometimes bilobed, attaining about 15-21 x 13-23 mm, calyx lobes persistent at the apex, about 2.5 mm long, pericarp succulent despite included fibres. Seed about 7-12 mm diam., testa free from the pericarp and free from the cotyledons. Cotyledons partly fused together, free towards the apex. Radicle basal.

Seedlings

Cataphylls about 1-3 pairs. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade narrowly elliptic or obovate, apex acute or obtuse, base cuneate or attenuate; oil dots small, scattered, may be visible to the naked eye. Seed germination time 27 to 49 days.

Distribution and Ecology

Occurs in WA, CYP, NEQ, CEQ and southwards as far as south-eastern Queensland. Altitudinal range from sea level to 500 m. Usually grows as a shrub on beaches but also found as a small understory tree in beach forest, monsoon forest and drier, more seasonal rain forest. Seldom found in well developed rain forest. Also occurs in SE Asia, Malesia and the Pacific islands.

Natural History & Notes

Usually a small bushy shrub that will survive in a variety of situations. Sometimes cultivated in coastal conditions for its succulent edible fruit.

Wood specific gravity 0.88. Hyland (1983).

Synonyms
Jossinia reinwardtia (Bl.) Bl., Mus. Bot. 1: 120(1843). Myrtus reinwardtiana Bl., Bijdr. : 1082(1826), Type: Reinwardt, Saparua, Moluccas. Eugenia rariflora Benth., Lond. Journ. Bot. 2: 221(1843), Type: Feejee Islands, Hinds; Barclay; syn: K. Eugenia carissoides F.Muell., Fragm. Phytogr. Austral. 3: 130(1863), Type: Port Denison, E. Fitzalan; lecto: MEL; iso: MEL. Eugenia hypospodia F.Muell., Fragm. Phytogr. Austral. 5: 15(1865), Type: Rockingham Bay, J. Dallachy; lecto: MEL. Eugenia macrohila C.T.White & W.D.Francis, Proc, Roy. Soc. Queensl. 35: 69(1923), Type: Marmor, W. D. Francis; holo: BRI; iso: MEL.
RFK Code
719
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