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Syzygium crebrinerve

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Syzygium crebrinerve
Large Syzygium crebrinerve - Lamington National Park, Australia.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Myrtales
Family: Myrtaceae
Genus: Syzygium
Species:
S. crebrinerve
Binomial name
Syzygium crebrinerve
Synonyms

Eugenia crebrinervis C. White

Syzygium crebrinerve is a fairly common Australian tree, growing from near Taree, New South Wales (31 ° S) to Calliope in Queensland (24 ° S). Common names include purple cherry, rose satinash, and black water gum. The habitat of Syzygium crebrinerve is sub tropical rainforest on basaltic or fertile alluvial soils.

Description

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Syzygium crebrinerve is a medium to tall tree, occasionally reaching 45 metres in height and a metre in trunk diameter. The tree's crown appears dark and full, though new growth is bright red.

The bark is a grey/fawn colour, with numerous depressions caused by the shedding of scales of bark. New live bark is a purplish brown colour. Large Syzygium crebrinerve are significantly buttressed at the base.

Leaves, flowers and fruit

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The leaves are opposite, simple, and entire, up to 11 cm long. Margins are narrowed at each end and drawn out into a point. Young leaves are bright red. Oil dots of various sizes, the largest visible to the naked eye. Leaf stalks are 6 mm long.

Flowers are white, appearing in November and December, in panicles at the ends of branchlets.

The fruit matures from January to April, being a flattened berry,[1] a common shape of many Syzygium. Syzygium fruit are also described as drupaceous.[2] Colours range from pink to purple. The flesh is unpalatable to humans, being dry and tasteless, but is eaten by many rainforest birds, including the topknot pigeon.

Cultivation

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Seed germination is slow, erratic and unreliable. Fruit is prone to insect attack. Soaking of the seeds is recommended to drown insect larvae. Germination results can range from 27% to 100%.

Syzygium crebrinerve - leaves from Dorrigo National Park, Australia
Syzygium crebrinerve - new pink leaves from Dorrigo National Park, Australia

References

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  1. ^ Floyd, A. G. (2008). Rainforest Trees of Mainland South-eastern Australia (2nd, Revised ed.). Lismore, New South Wales: Terania Rainforest Publishing. p. 258. ISBN 978-0-958943-67-3. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
  2. ^ Jie Chen and Lyn A. Craven, "Syzygium P. Browne ex Gaertner, Fruct. Sem. Pl. 1: 166. 1788", Flora of China Online, vol. 13, retrieved 3 May 2015