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Genus Syzygium Family Myrtaceae

Description: Trees or shrubs, usually glabrous.

Leaves opposite, venation usually distinct, petiolate.

Inflorescences usually panicles, terminal or axillary, occasionally ramiflorous or cauliflorous. Flowers 4- or rarely 5-merous. Calyx lobes usually small, persistent in fruit. Petals free or occasionally forming calyptra. Stamens numerous; anthers dorsifixed, versatile, lobes parallel. Ovary ± inferior, 2- or rarely 3-locular; ovules several on an axile placenta; style about as long as or slightly exceeding the stamens, stigma small.

Fruit succulent, flesh firm or spongy, usually crowned by the persistent calyx lobes; seed usually solitary, rarely 2 or more; testa soft, leathery or papery; cotyledons thick, free from each other.


Distribution and occurrence: World: >500 spp., trop. & subtrop. Afr., Asia, Pac. Aust.: 52 spp. (47 spp. endemic), Qld, N.S.W., N.T., W.A.

Many species are cultivated as ornamental trees; the flowers with their mass of coloured stamens, often brightly coloured fruit and reddish new growth add to their appeal. The dried flower buds of S. aromaticum (L.) Merr. & Perry ar the commercial cloves used in flavouring.

Taxa not yet included in identification key
Syzygium fullagarii

 Key to the species 
1Leafy twigs 4-angled to shortly 4-winged, wings joining above each node to produce a small pocketSyzygium australe
Leafy twigs terete to 4-angled, pockets never forming above the node2
2Leaves with intramarginal vein poorly developed, main lateral veins irregularly looping well inside the marginsSyzygium hodgkinsoniae
Leaves with intramarginal veins close to the margins, usually well developed
                       Back to 1
3
3Petals cohering and shed as a calyptra4
Petals free and spreading
                       Back to 2
5
4Inflorescences terminal and axillary; fruit purplish blueSyzygium francisii
Inflorescences produced on the older stems below the leaves; fruit white
                       Back to 3
Syzygium moorei
5Fruit pink to red6
Fruit bluish to purple or magenta
                       Back to 3
7
6Hypanthium short, 3–6 mm long; fruit 9–12 mm long, 7–11 mm diam.; leaves 2.5–7 cm long, 1–3 cm wideSyzygium luehmannii
Hypanthium 6–14 mm long; fruit 13–20 mm long, 11–18 mm diam.; leaves 4–12 cm long, 2–5.5 cm wide
                       Back to 5
Syzygium corynanthum
7Oil glands in leaves very numerous, rather large and readily visible to the naked eyeSyzygium oleosum
Oil glands small and scattered, or obscure, not readily visible with the naked eye
                       Back to 5
8
8Seeds containing 2 or more embryos of various sizes; fruit more or less ovoid to globoseSyzygium paniculatum
Seeds containing only one embryo; fruit depressed-globose
                       Back to 7
Syzygium crebrinerve

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