Syzygium tierneyanum (F.Muell.) T.G.Hartley & L.M.Perry

Tuiwawa, S. H., Craven, L. A., Sam, C. & Crisp, M. D., 2013, The genus Syzygium (Myrtaceae) in Vanuatu, Blumea 58 (1), pp. 53-67 : 64-66

19. Syzygium tierneyanum (F.Muell.) T.G.Hartley & L.M.Perry

Syzygium tierneyanum (F.Muell.) T.G.Hartley & L.M.Perry (1973) 200.— Eugenia tierneyana F.Muell.(1865) 14. — Typus (fide Hyland 1983): Dallachy s.n. (lecto MEL n.v.), Australia, Queensland, Dalrymple Creek .

Tree up to 25 m tall. Vegetative branchlets terete, c. 4 mm diam; bark dull, smooth to slightly striate, not glandular-verrucose, persistent. Leaf lamina up to 15 by 6.6 cm, circular or elliptic; base symmetric, mostly cuneate sometimes attenuate; apex cuspidate or acute or acuminate, acumen recurved; margin flat or undulate; chartaceous; drying greenish above; primary vein (midrib) c. 1 mm wide; secondary veins open, 7–11 each side of primary vein, 18–28 mm apart; intramarginal vein absent; secondary and tertiary intramarginal vein absent; oil dots present, not visible to the unaided eye in transmitted light, small, dense. Petiole 6–15 mm long; adaxial strongly grooved. Inflorescence terminal-axillary or lateral, cymose panicle, up to 6.5 by 3.5 cm, 5–7 flowers per anthopodium; hypopodium c. 7 mm long; main inflorescence axis c. 2 mm wide, terete, dull, smooth; bracts deciduous, less than 0.5 mm long. Hypanthium stipitate, stipe c. 5 mm long; campanulate; 11–14 by 10–13 mm, dull, not visibly gland dotted; glandular-verrucose. Sepals 4, c. 2 by 3–8 mm, semicircular, persistent, free. Petals 4–5, white, persistent, coherent, subcircular, c. 5 by 10 mm, not visibly gland dotted; margin entire. Stamens many, more than 50, outermost stamens up to 1.5 cm long; filament not seen; anther sacs narrowly oblong. Style up to 1.7 cm long. Fruit black to deep red when ripe, smooth, plane, campanuloid, 2.5–3 by 2–2.5 cm.

Distribution & Ecology — Vanuatu (Sanma province: Espiritu Santo, Malakula; Tafea province:Aneityum, Erromango, Tanna; Torba province: Hiu, Tegua). Syzygium tierneyanum occurs in Indonesia (Papua Province), Papua New Guinea, Australia, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. In Vanuatu it is a rainforest species that occurs up to 1200 m asl.

Vernacular names — Indahau (Aneityum), nahromyein or nemonu (Erromango); Malahavia (E. Santo).

Uses — Good firewood. This species is often logged commercially but is not used for ground posts because it quickly rots in the ground.

Notes — 1. Flowers have been recorded from September to December and fruit from May to December.

2. In Vanuatu, S. tierneyanum displays considerable variability in leaf lamina shape, that is absent any of the non-Vanuatu collections.

3. The inflorescence of S. tierneyanum can be confused with those of S. malaccense . However, in S. tierneyanum the inflorescence occurs among or below the leaves and has bracts that are deciduous, whereas for S. malaccense the inflorescence occurs only below the leaves and the bracts are caducous.