BLUMEA 48: 479 – 488
Published on 28 November 2003 doi: 10.3767/000651903X489438
FOUR NEW SPECIES OF SYZYGIUM (MYRTACEAE)
FROM
AUSTRALIA
L.A. CRAVEN
Australian National Herbarium, CPBR, CSIRO Plant Industry, G.P.O. Box 1600,
Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
SUMMARY
The following new species of Syzygium are described from Queensland, Australia: S. fratris, S. glenum,
S. monimioides and S. monospermum. Notes are provided as to their putative relationships.
Key words: Acmena, Cleistocalyx, Piliocalyx, Syzygium, Myrtaceae, Australia.
INTRODUCTION
The Australian species of Syzygium Gaertn. and its closer generic relatives were recently
revised by Hyland (1983). Hyland accepted five genera within the complex, Acmena
DC., Acmenosperma Kausel, Eugenia L., Syzygium, and Waterhousea B. Hyland, treat-
ing the Australian species at that time referred to Cleistocalyx Blume within his concept
of Syzygium (Hyland, 1983). During work on an account of the generic complex for
Flora of Australia (Craven & Matarczyk, in press) it became apparent that to accept the
genera recognised by Hyland would require the description of several new genera to
accommodate anomalous species. These species were either unknown or inadequately
collected when Hyland’s work was published but at least one species treated by Hyland,
S. wesa B. Hyland, is incongruent within the genus to which he assigned it.
Eugenia and Syzygium often have been treated as congeneric (e.g. Henderson, 1949;
Kochummen, 1978) whereas others have maintained them as distinct genera (e.g. Mer-
rill, 1950; Kostermans, 1981). Schmid’s studies of morphological and anatomical data
indicated that two separate lineages were involved (Schmid, 1972a, b) and this view
has been supported by some recent molecular work. Analyses of matK sequence data
and non-molecular data have shown that Syzygium and Acmena form a clade with four
other Australasian genera (Anetholea Peter G. Wilson, Osbornia F. Muell., Backhousia
Hook. & Harv. and Choricarpia Domin) that is sister to a clade containing both Old and
New World genera (Archirhodomyrtus (Nied.) Burret, Pilidiostigma Burret, Rhodamnia
Jack, Calyptranthes Sw., Eugenia and Xanthomyrtus Diels, Wilson et al., 2001).
While the accumulated evidence that Eugenia and the Syzygium generic complex rep-
resent distinct evolutionary lineages may now have resolved that particular issue, there
remains considerable uncertainty as to the circumscription of Syzygium. In publications
of world-wide scope, Merrill (1950) accepted seven (and tentatively an eighth) genera
that belong to the Syzygium complex, Airy Shaw (1966) three, Kausel (1957) ten, and
Briggs & Johnson (1979) eight. In more geographically restricted works, often there has
© 2003 Nationaal Herbarium Nederland, Leiden University branch
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been considerable variation as to which generic segregates are accepted. In a study of
Australian species, Hyland (1983) recognised Acmena, Acmenosperma, Syzygium (incl.
Cleistocalyx) and a fourth genus, Waterhousea, an Australian endemic. In contrast, in
an account of the syzygioid species in Fiji, Smith (1985) recognised Cleistocalyx as a
genus distinct from Syzygium, together with Syzygium and Piliocalyx Brongn. & Gris,
the last named genus occurring in New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Fiji. Chantaranothai
& Parnell (1994a, b) and Parnell (1999), in dealing with Thai species of the syzygioid
group, recognised Acmena, Cleistocalyx and Syzygium (incl. Acmenosperma). For
Malaya, Turner (1997) preferred to recognise Syzygium only (incl. Acmena, Acmeno-
sperma, Cleistocalyx). The issue was discussed by Craven (2001) who concluded that
recognition of a single genus, i.e. Syzygium, was the only practicable solution in the
light of present knowledge.
As a result of the work towards the accounts of the syzygioid genera for Flora of
Australia mentioned above, four undescribed species were identified from north-eastern
Queensland; these are newly described below and placed in Syzygium. Where relevant,
notes are given on the placement of the species relative to genera accepted by other
workers.
The reproductive seasonal growth unit that is described for each of the four species
in this paper is defined as the shoot or flush of growth that includes the inflorescence.
This growth unit may have a leafy zone in addition to the inflorescence per se or may
consist entirely of the inflorescence.
1. Syzygium fratris Craven, spec. nov. — Fig. 1a
A S. canicortex B. Hyland oribus sepalis discretis et petalis perfecte evolutis differt.
— Typus: L.A. Craven, R. Jensen & W. Cooper 10421 (holo BRI; iso A, BO, CANB, L,
LAE, MEL, P), Australia, Queensland, Mt Bartle Frere, NW Peak, 2 December 2001.
Tree to 10 m tall, to 10 cm dbh. Bark nondescript. Branchlets compressed or quadran-
gular, winged, the wings not joined at the base, 0.5–1 mm diam.; bark dull, smooth or
cracked. Leaf lamina elliptic, broadly elliptic or ovate, 3.5– 8.5 by 1.3–3.4 cm, 1.9 –2.9
times as long as wide, base cuneate or attenuate, apex long acuminate (tip of the acumen
rounded or obtuse), acumen plane or recurved, margin revolute, entire, midrib rounded
on the abaxial surface, primary and secondary venation generally similar with all or
nearly all secondaries joining the intramarginal vein, primary veins 10 –14 on each side
of the midrib, divergence angle more or less uniform, in the median part of the lamina
the veins at an angle of 55–70° and 1–3.5 mm apart, intramarginal vein present and
0.5–1.4 mm from the margin, secondary intramarginal vein present (obscure and only
visible after the removal of lamina surface tissues), oil dots visible to the unaided eye
in transmitted light, the dots small, sparse. Petiole 2–4.5 by 0.6 –0.8 mm, axillary
enations often present, 0.4–1.4 mm long. Reproductive seasonal growth unit leafless.
Inflorescence among the leaves, terminal, few-flowered and then cymose or spicate or
1-flowered, main axis straight and rigid, 0.5–1.6 by 1– 2 cm, 0.5–1 mm thick at the mid
point; bracteate, the bracts deciduous; bracteoles subtending each flower, or subtending
the lateral flowers of a triad with the terminal flower ebracteolate, deciduous. Flowers
not calyptrate. Hypanthium dull, obscurely gland dotted, stipitate, stipitately narrowly
funnel-shaped or elongated-goblet-shaped, 5.5–7.5 by 2.5– 4.5 mm, the stipe 1.5 –2 mm
L. A. Craven: Four new species of Syzygium from Australia
481
Fig. 1. A. Syzygium fratris Craven, owering branchlets; B. Syzygium monimioides Craven, owering
branchlets (A: Craven, Jensen & Cooper 10421 (CANB); B: Forster, Sankowsky & Tucker 10750
(QRS)). — Scale bars = 1 cm.
long. Sepals 4, uniform in size or nearly so, transversely semicircular or transversely
narrowly semi-elliptic, persistent, not accrescent, 0.1–0.5 mm long. Petals 4, decidu-
ous, not coherent, 2 by 2–2.5 mm, margin entire or lacerate. Staminal disc unmodified
or prominent. Stamens all fertile, outermost stamens 2–4 mm long; anther sacs paral-
lel; anthers oblong, 0.3–0.5 mm long, dehiscing by longitudinal slits, connective not
glandular. Style 4– 6.5 mm long at anthesis. Placentation axile-median, the placenta
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weakly developed, narrowly oblong or sublinear (more or less flange-like). Ovules 4–6
per locule, pendulous, arranged in two longitudinal rows. Immature fruit smooth or
glandular-verruculose, barrel-shaped, perhaps less than 12 by 7 mm at maturity, with
the calyx rim not appreciably expanding in fruit, pericarp distinctly free from the seed
and without peg-like intrusions into the seed. Seed 1, spheroidal, perhaps c. 4 mm diam.
at maturity, testa absent, uni-embryonic; embryo with the cotyledons readily separable
and with no interlocking placental tissue present, equal in size or nearly so.
Distribution — Australia (Queensland, Mt Bartle Frere, NW Peak).
Habitat — Rain forest; 1400–1500 m altitude.
Notes — 1. Flowers have been recorded in May and December. Fruits have been
recorded in March.
2. The most closely related species to S. fratris may be S. canicortex B. Hyland. In
both species the placentation is axile-median, the ovules are pendulous in two longitu-
dinal rows in each locule, and the leaves are fairly similar in shape and size. However,
the two species may be distinguished as follows: S. canicortex: flowers calyptrate (the
calyptra is sepaline in origin and the petals adhere to and fall with the calyptra) and
the fruit consequently lack sepals, leaves with axillary enations 0.2–0.5 mm long;
S. fratris: flowers with 4 sepals and petals, the sepals persistent through to the mature
fruit, leaves often with axillary enations, these 0.4–1.4 mm long.
3. The epithet is derived from the Latin frater, brother, in reference to the locality Mt
Bartle Frere which itself was named in honour of Henry Bartle Edward Frere, a former
Governor of Bombay and a former president of the Royal Geographical Society.
Specimens studied:
Cooper & Cooper 1735; Craven, Jensen & Cooper 10419, 10420, 10421 (type); Gray 3949; Gray
in Hyland 25917RFK; Hyland 12923; Jensen 805.
2. Syzygium glenum Craven, spec. nov. — Fig. 2c, d
A S. gustavioides (F.M. Bailey) B. Hyland ovario placentis axialiapicalibus, et semini-
bus cotyledonibus coalitis et contexto fungiformi intruso differt. — Typus: W. Cooper &
W. Cooper 979 (holo CANB; iso QRS), Australia, Queensland, Daintree River region,
Turpentine Road (N of Cow Bay), 21 June 1996.
Tree to 25 m tall, to 70 cm dbh. Bark reddish-brown-grey; flaky. Branchlets terete or
rounded-compressed, 1.3–2.2 mm diam.; bark dull, smooth or slightly striate. Leaf
lamina narrowly elliptic, elliptic or narrowly ovate, 8.4–17.9 by 3.2– 6.7 cm, 2.4–3.4
times as long as wide, base cuneate, obtuse or attenuate, apex acuminate (tip of acumen
acute or occasionally rounded), acumen plane, margin revolute, entire, midrib angled
or rounded on the abaxial surface, primary and secondary venation distinctly differ-
ent with the secondaries relatively little developed and not joining the intramarginal
vein, primary veins 19–42 on each side of the midrib, divergence angle more or less
uniform or with the distal veins more acute than the proximal, in the median part of
the lamina the veins at an angle of 55–70° and 3–11 mm apart, intramarginal vein
present and 1.6–6 mm from the margin, secondary intramarginal vein present and a
third is usually present, oil dots visible to the unaided eye in transmitted light, the dots
small, sparse. Petiole 7.5–16 by 1.3– 2 mm, stipules and/or axillary enations absent.
Reproductive seasonal growth unit with distinct vegetative and reproductive zones or
L. A. Craven: Four new species of Syzygium from Australia
483
with a reproductive zone only. Inflorescence leafless, among the leaves, terminal or
distal axillary, few- to many-flowered, paniculate, main axis straight and rigid, 3–40
by1.5–17 cm, 1–2 mm thick at the mid point; bracteate, the bracts deciduous; bracte-
oles subtending the lateral flowers of a triad but with the terminal flower ebracteolate,
deciduous. Flowers calyptrate (the calyptra formed from fused sepals only, the petals
cohere to the calyptra and fall with it), the calyptra 0.75–1.5 mm long. Hypanthium
Fig. 2. A. Syzygium monospermum Craven, abaxial leaf surface; B. Syzygium erythrocalyx (C.T.
White) B. Hyland, abaxial leaf surface; C, D. Syzygium glenum Craven. C. Longitudinal section
through a fruit showing pericarp, embryo (the white tissue) and the intrusive mushroom-shaped
tissue; D. transverse section through a fruit (A: Hyland 2960RFK (CANB); B: Webb 945 (CANB);
C & D: Cooper & Cooper 979 (CANB)). — Scale bars = 1 cm.