Syzygium onesimum Merr. & 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 : 63

14. Syzygium onesimum Merr. & L.M.Perry

Syzygium onesimum Merr. & L.M.Perry (1942a) 296. — Eugenia onesima (Merr. & L.M.Perry) Whitmore (1967) 17. — Typus: Kajewski 2043 (holo A n.v.; iso BRI!), Papua New Guinea, Bougainville Province, Buin, Koniguru , Aug. 1930.

Tree up to 15 m tall. Vegetative branchlets terete, c. 2 mm diam; bark dull, very striate, not glandular or verrucose, persistent. Leaf lamina up to 8 by 3.3 cm, ovate to elliptic; base symmetric, attenuate; apex acuminate, acumen recurved; margin undulate; coriaceous; drying greenish above; primary vein (midrib) 0.5 mm wide; secondary veins open, more than 20 each side of primary vein, c. 2 mm apart; intramarginal vein strongly arched, c. 2 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 through transmitted light, small, dense. Petiole c. 13 mm long; adaxially strongly grooved. Inflorescence terminal, cymose panicle; c. 10 by 8 cm, 3 flowers per anthopodium; hypopodium 2 mm long; main inflorescence axis c. 1 mm wide, terete, dull, smooth; bracts caducous, not seen. Hypanthium stipitate, stipe c. 2 mm long, obconic, c. 4 by 2 mm, dull, not visibly gland dotted, minutely wrinkled. Sepals not seen. Petals not seen. Style c. 3 mm long. Fruit purple, smooth, plane, ellipsoid or spherical or obconical, c. 2 by 1.6 cm.

Distribution & Ecology — Vanuatu (Sanma province: Espiritu Santo; Shefa province: Efate). Syzygium onesimum occurs in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. In Vanuatu, the species has been collected in montane rainforest at c. 900 m asl.

Vernacular names — Unknown.

Uses — Unknown.

Notes — 1. The flowering period is unknown but its fruits have been recorded in November.

2. In Vanuatu, S. onesimum has been incorrectly referred to as S. buettnerianum Nied.

3. Syzygium subcorymbosum could be misidentified as S. onesimum , however, these two species may be distinguished by fruit size and colour. In S. onesimum the fruit is ellipsoid or spherical or obconioid, c. 18 by 14 mm and purple. For S. subcorymbosum it is barrel-shaped to depressed spheroidal, 30–46 by 18–24 mm and yellow.