Syzygium kajewskii Guillaumin, 1931

Tuiwawa, S. H., Craven, L. A., Sam, C. & Crisp, M. D., 2013, The genus Syzygium (Myrtaceae) in Vanuatu, Blumea 58 (1), pp. 53-67 : 61

9. Syzygium kajewskii Guillaumin

Syzygium kajewskii Guillaumin (1931) 256. — Typus: Wilson 970 (lectotype P!, here designated; iso BRI!, K!), Vanuatu, Tafea Province, Aneityum, Anelgauhat Bay , 657 m, Sept. 1929.

Tree up to 25 m tall. Vegetative branchlets terete, c. 3 mm diam; bark dull, smooth, not glandular or verrucose, persistent. Leaf lamina 4.5–10.5 by 2.3–4.9 cm, circular or broadly elliptic; base symmetric, cuneate or attenuate; apex caudate or acute or acuminate, acumen recurved; margin undulate; chartaceous, dried reddish brown above; primary vein (midrib) less than 1 mm wide; secondary veins closed, more than 20 each side of primary vein, c. 3 mm apart; intramarginal vein strongly arched, 18–30 mm from the margin at the lamina midpoint; secondary intramarginal vein weakly arched, tertiary intramarginal vein absent; oil dots present, not visible to the unaided eye in transmitted light, small, sparse to dense. Petiole c. 27 mm long, somewhat distally curved; adaxially strongly grooved. Inflorescence terminal or cauliflorous, cymose panicle, c. 9 by 12 cm, c. 5–9 flowers per anthopodium; hypopodium 2.5–5 mm long; main inflorescence axis c. 1 mm wide, terete, dull, smooth; bracts deciduous, less than 0.5 mm long. Hypanthium stipitate, stipe c. 1–4 mm long; obconical or campanulate, c. 10 by 8 mm, dull, not visibly gland dotted, glandular-verrucose, smooth. Sepals 4, c. 1 by 2 mm, semicircular, persistent, free. Petals c. 4, deciduous, white, not coherent, circular, less than 1 mm by 8 µm, not visibly gland dotted; margin entire. Stamens many, more than 50, outermost stamens 5–8 mm long; filament free, white; anther sacs parallel, circular or elliptic. Style c. 6 mm long. Fruit not seen.

Distribution & Ecology — Vanuatu (Malampa province: Malakula; Penama province: Pentecost; Sanma province: Espiritu Santo; Shefa Province: Efate, Nguna; Tafea province:Aneityum, Erromango). Syzygium kajewskii is endemic to the Vanuatu archipelago where it occurs quite frequently in the southern islands. The species occurs as a canopy tree in dense forest on slopes and plateaus up to 970 m asl.

Vernacular names — Nomo thee (Aneityum), neyalam (Erromango).

Uses — Commercial timber, firewood and house posts.

Notes — 1. Syzygium kajewskii is often misidentified as S. aneityense , however, these species are distinct in petiole length, hypanthium and sepal size. In S. aneityense the petiole is 5 – 8 mm long, the hypanthium is obconic or broadly clavate and up to 10 by 5 mm; the sepals are small to almost inconspicuous 0.2–0.4 mm long. For S. kajewskii , the petiole is c. 27 mm long; the hypanthium is obconic or campanulate and c. 10 by 8 mm and the sepals are relatively conspicuous c. 1 by 2 mm. In S. kajewskii , the hypanthium size varies along an altitudinal gradient. In cloud montane forest at c. 900 m asl it is c. 5 by 3 mm but below this forest system the hypanthium is c. 10 by 8 mm.

2. When describing S. kajewskii, Guillaumin (1931) cited only one collection, Wilson 970, but did not designate a particular specimen as holotype. In accordance with Recommendation 9A.4 of the ICBN ( McNeill et al. 2012), the specimen deposited in Guillaumin’s home institution, P, is considered to be the type and is designated lectotype above.