Syzygium Puberulum

''Syzygium puberulum'', commonly known as white satinash or downy satinash, is a plant in the family Myrtaceae which is native to rainforests of Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, and Papua New Guinea. It was first described in 1942.

Description

''Syzygium puberulum'' is a small, evergreen, rainforest understory tree reaching up to high, with a trunk diameter not exceeding The leaves are simple and opposite, papery, dark green above and lighter below. They are held on very short petioles about long, and measure up to long by wide. They have two intramarginal veins, the outer one obscure and the inner one quite obvious, and there are about 18–22 lateral veins either side of the midrib. The leaf tip is acuminate, the base is obtuse.

The inflorescence is a pendant panicle produced either terminally, from the leaf axils or from the wood of the branches. The peduncle is long and there are up to 5 flowers clustered at the apex.

The fruit are, in botanical terms, berries - i.e. fleshy, stoneless fruit produced from a single flower containing one ovary. They are somewhat conical or pear-shaped, and measure up to long by wide with 1 to 5 seeds.

Taxonomy

This plant was first formally described (as a new species) in 1942 by Elmer Drew Merrill and Lily May Perry. They published the name in a paper titled ''Plantae Papuanae Archboldianae'' in the Journal of the Arnold Arboretum. There are no infraspecies of this taxon.

Etymology

The genus name ''Syzygium'' comes from the Greek word '' syzgos'', meaning "joined" and is a reference to the paired leaves displayed by members of the genus. The species epithet ''puberulum'' come from the word puberulent meaning covered in fine hair, referring to the downy covering on the calyx.

Distribution and habitat

In Australia this tree is found in Cape York Peninsula, particularly in the area of the Kutini-Payamu National Park (formerly Iron Range National Park), as well as some of the islands of the Torres Strait. In Papua New Guinea it has been observed in the south west near the border with West Papua, but there are many more observations in the southeast peninsula - i.e. north, south and east of Port Moresby.

In Australia it is usually found occupying gallery forest, i.e. forest occurring beside a river or lake in areas that would otherwise not be suitable habitat, at elevations up to . In Papua New Guinea it occurs mostly in rainforested gullies up to about above sea level.

Ecology

''Syzygium puberulum'' serves as a host plant for larvae of the pale cerulean butterfly (''Jamides cyta'')

Conservation

This species is listed by both the Queensland Department of Environment and Science and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as least concern.

Cultivation and uses

It has been suggested that the white satinash would make a good garden plant due to its weeping habit, colourful fruit and pendulous inflorescences, however there is no evidence that the species is being sold by nurseries. In the city of Cairns, just two specimens have been planted, both of them in the Tanks Arts Centre section of the Cairns Botanic Gardens. The species does not reach a size where it might produce useful timber.

Gallery

File:Syzygium-puberulum-SF23338-04.jpg, Foliage
File:Syzygium puberulum ALA4.jpg, Botanic illustration
File:Syzygium-puberulum-SF23338-11.jpg, Fruit
File:Syzygium-puberulum-SF23338-13.jpg, Weeping habit

References

External links

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View a map
of historical sightings of this species at the Australasian Virtual Herbarium

View observations
of this species on iNaturalist

View images
of this species on Flickriver

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15387015

puberulum
Endemic flora of Queensland
Flora of New Guinea
Taxa named by Lily May Perry
Taxa named by Elmer Drew Merrill
Plants described in 1942