Syzygium nervosum DC.

Myrtaceae

Candolle, A.P. de (1828) Prodromus 3: 260. Type: Roxburgh s. n., Herb. Lambert 1816, Holo: G-DC.

Daly River Satinash; Satinash, Daly River

Bark brown or reddish brown, flaky or coarsely flaky.

Leaf blades about 9.6-17.5 x 3.4-6.6 cm, apex acuminate, base attenuate, margins frequently wavy, petioles about 0.7-0.8 cm long. Midrib grooved or depressed on the upper surface. Leaves when crushed emit an odour like mango (Mangifera indica) skin.

Inflorescence below or back from the leaves, on twigs less than 5 mm diam., bracts deciduous, absent at anthesis. Calyx tube (hypanthium) + pedicel about 2.5-3.5 mm long, calyx tube (hypanthium) about 2.5-4.5 mm diam., calyx operculate, apex rostrate. Petals (cohering and attached to the underside of the calyx and shed with it), +/- orbicular, about 2.5-3.5 mm diam., oil dots visible, about 30-100 per petal. Outer staminal filaments about 2-6 mm long, anthers about 0.3-0.6 x 0.3-0.4 mm, gland terminal. Ovules about 8-15 per locule, placentas central, ovules radiating, ascending. Style about 3.5-8 mm long, approximating or shorter than the stamens.

Fruits globular to depressed globular, attaining about 10 x 10-12 mm, excavated at the apex, calyx lobes absent, pericarp +/- succulent. Seed solitary, attaining about 8 mm diam., testa adhering somewhat to the pericarp and also to the glandular surface of the uniformly textured cotyledons. Radicle basal or lateral.

Cataphylls absent. Cotyledons petiolate, almost orbicular, fleshy, venation not visible. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade elliptic or oblong-elliptic, apex acute or acuminate, base cuneate, glabrous; oil dots numerous, just visible to the naked eye. Seed germination time 9 to 35 days.

Occurs in WA and NT. Altitudinal range from sea level to 150 m. Grows in rain forest, usually around the margins of swamps or near perennial creeks. Also occurs in Asia and Malesia.

This species cannot be regarded as a commercial species as the volume available for exploitation is too small, however, it can be used as structural timber. Wood specific gravity 0.68. Hyland (1983).

Cleisticalyx cerasoides (Roxb.) I.M. Turner, Gard. Bull. Singapore 57: 26(2005). Syzygium cerasoides (Roxb.) Raizada, Indian Forester 84: 478(1958). Eugenia holtzei F.Muell., Aust. Jour. Pharm. 1: 199(1886), Type: Northern Territtory, Darwin, Moritz Holtze 44; holo: MEL. Syzygium operculatum (Roxb.) Nied., Die Naturlichen Pflanzenfamilien 3(7) : 85(1893). Cleistocalyx operculatus (Roxb.) Merr. & L.M.Perry, Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 18: 337(1937). Eugenia operculata Roxb., Fl. Ind. ed 2 2: 486(1832), Type: Lecto: Roxburgh s.n., herb. Lambert 1816, G-DC (fide Panigrahi & Mishra 1985). Eugenia cerasoides Roxb., Fl. Ind. ed. 1832 2: 488(1832), Type: Ic. Roxb. no. 2256; Lecto: K; fide Turner (2005).