Syzygium cryptophlebium

Location & distribution maps

Common name:         Plum Satinash

• Also, Powderpuff Lillipilli, Satinash Plum, Watergum

Conservation status: ...

Etymology:   

Flowers

• Bracts deciduous, absent at anthesis

• Calyx tube (hypanthium) + pedicel about 5-8.5 x 2-4.5 mm, calyx lobes +/- rounded, about 0.5-1.5 mm long

• Petals +/- orbicular, about 2-3 mm diam., oil dots visible, comparatively large, about 10-90 per petal

• Outer staminal filaments about 5-11 mm long, sometimes glandular, anthers about 0.5-0.7 x 0.5-0.7 mm, gland terminal, near the back of the anther and up to three or four smaller subsidiary glands sometimes present, lower down on the back of the anther

• Ovules about 10-25 per locule, placentas axile, ovules transverse, +/- horizontal. Style about 5-12.5 mm long, approximating the stamens

Fruit:                            

• Fruits broadly obovoid to globular, excavated at the apex, attaining about 8-12 mm diam., calyx lobes persistent, about 1-1.5 mm long, pericarp succulent

• Seed solitary, about 5-7 mm diam., testa adhering slightly to the pericarp but free from the smooth but glandular surface of the uniformly textured cotyledons

• Radicle basal or lateral, cotyledons purple when fresh, cotyledonary stipules present, but small and inconspicuous

Leaves:         

• Petiole short, slightly channelled on the upper surface, black or purple in colour

• Leaf blades about 5.5-16.8 x 1.3-5 cm, petioles about 3-5 mm long

• Midrib conspicuously raised on the upper surface

• Lateral veins scarcely visible on the upper surface

• A few oil dots may be visible with a lens near the midrib

Stem & branches: 

• Sometimes with scroll marks on sections of the trunk, i.e. a series of curved parallel lines

Roots:         

Habit:        

Habitat:   

• Altitudinal range from sea level to 1550 m

• Grows in well developed rain forest, usually but not always, as an understory tree

Distribution:                  

• Endemic to Queensland, occurs in CYP, NEQ and CEQ

Additional notes:   

• Seedlings

  • Cataphylls absent or sometimes 1 pair

  • At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade narrowly ovate, apex acuminate, base cuneate or obtuse, glabrous

  • Oil dots very sparse although a few can usually be found along the midrib

  • Stems 4-angled or shortly 4-winged

  • Seed germination time 23 to 92 days.

• Use

  • A small tree in cultivation, popular for its flushes of new growth and the cream flowers which attract birds.

  • This subspecies occasionally produces millable logs and the timber is marketed as Plum Satinash, a useful structural timber

  • Wood specific gravity 0.78-0.81

Sources of information:

• https://apps.lucidcentral.org/rainforest/pdf/entities/syzygium_cryptophlebium.pdf (2024)