Syzygium fazangii Craven & Damas, 2021

Craven, L. A., Damas, K. Q. & Cowley, K. J., 2021, Studies in Papuasian Syzygium (Myrtaceae): 2. The furfuraceous species of subg. Syzygium, Blumea 66 (1), pp. 57-81 : 66-67

10. Syzygium fazangii Craven & Damas , sp. nov. — Fig. 2 : 1.7; Map 3

From Syzygium furfuraceum Merr. & L.M.Perry it differs in having the leaf lamina elliptic or rarely approaching obovate with the base attenuate (broadly oblong or sometimes obovate and the base obtuse in S. furfuraceum ); calyx reduced to an incomplete, ragged rim of tissue with some segments superficially resembling lobes (calyx is an undulating rim of tissue, typically well developed, with 4 well distinguished lobes in S. furfuraceum ). — Type: NGF (Smith) 1329 (holo CANB!; iso LAE !, BRI n.v.), Papua New Guinea, Milne Bay Province, c. 10 km up the Dawa Dawa River, in rainforest, alt. c. 60 m, Mar. 1945.

Etymology. The specific epithet honours Kaigube (Dick) Fazang (1976‒), of the PNG National Herbarium, Lae .Kaigube commenced employment with the herbarium in 1997 and has since become a knowledgeable and capable field botanist, sought after for his plant identification skills.

Tree to 30 m tall, to 60 cm dbh; bark brown with flattish, pus- tular lenticels, dark brown and fissured and flaky or flaky and fissured. Vegetative branchlet terete, 3‒4 mm diam, round; bark dull, smooth, slightly or not glandular-verrucose, persistent. Leaf lamina elliptic or rarely approaching obovate, 13‒20 by 6‒9.5 cm, 1.6‒2.6 times as long as wide; base attenuate; apex acuminate or short acuminate; acumen flat; margin flat; coriaceous (sometimes stiffly so); primary and secondary venation distinctly different with secondaries relatively little developed and not or rarely joining the intramarginal vein, or generally similar with all or nearly all secondaries joining the intramarginal vein; primary veins 19‒29 on each side of the midrib, in median part of lamina at a divergence angle of 60‒70° and 4‒8 mm apart; intramarginal vein present, weakly arched, 1‒4 mm from margin, secondary intramarginal vein present. Petiole 10‒12 mm long. Reproductive seasonal growth unit with a reproductive zone only. Inflorescence cauline, paniculate, up to c. 12 by 10 cm, major axis c. 4 mm thick at the midpoint, bark furfuraceous; bracts caducous; bracteoles caducous (rarely a few persistent). Flower buds with the apex rounded to obtuse. Flowers cream or white. Hypanthium dull, furfuraceous, obscurely visibly gland-dotted, ribbed; not stipitate; cup-shaped to obconic, 6‒7 by 7‒8 mm. Calyx reduced to a rim of tissue, 1‒1.5 mm long. Petals 4, calyptrate (coherent and falling as a cap). Staminal disc flat ( Fig. 2 : 1.7). Stamens 95‒100. Style in fruit 6‒9 mm long. Placentation axile-basal; placenta a cushion, scarcely or not peltate. Ovules c. 25 per locule, ascending, ar- ranged irregularly. Mature fruit dark purplish pink, smooth but with a few weakly defined ribs, very depressed spheroid (in side view transversely oblong), 20‒25 by 40‒50 mm excluding the calyx, with the hypanthium rim appreciably expanding in fruit 12‒18 mm diam; seed very depressed spheroid, c. 25 mm across, cotyledons collateral. Open flowers not seen.

Distribution — Papua New Guinea.

Habitat & Ecology — Rainforest at base of foothills above swamp, disturbed primary ridge forest. Altitude 30‒800 m.

Notes — 1. Calyx lobes are not distinguishable with the calyx reduced to an incomplete, ragged rim of tissue some of the segments of which superficially resemble lobes.

2. NGF 19141 (near Markham River bridge, c. 13 km from Lae , c. 30 m, Morobe Province) apparently also belongs here. Although its hypanthium is smaller, it has c. 18 erect ovules per locule on an axile-basal placenta .

Figures

Fig. 2 Staminal disc types in Syzygium species. Series 1: Flat; series 2: descending; series 3: ascending; series 4: raised.