Eugenia viminea Wall., Numer. List

Eugenia viminea Wall., Numer. List no. 3593B. 1831. nom. nud. Fig. 1 View Fig

Large evergreen trees, to 20 m tall; old stems often buttressed at the base; bole straight; bark smooth, later becomes rough, slightly flaky, greyish-brown when mature; blaze ultimately turning reddishbrown; branches very slender, sub-terete and light green later become terete and pale greyish-brown, thickened at nodes; inter nodes 3–4 cm long. Leaves crimson-red when young; petioles slender, 0.5–1.5 cm long, slightly depressed above, black when dry; lamina elliptic-lanceolate to elliptic-oblong or ovate-elliptic, 6–9 × 1.5–5.5 cm, thinly coriaceous, pellucid punctate, cuneate at base, acuminate to caudate-acuminate at apex, acumen 0.5–1.5 cm long, slightly revolute along margins, greenish above, pale green beneath; midrib slender, slightly depressed above, raised beneath, black when dry; lateral nerves 35–42 per side, sub-parallel, narrowly spaced, 1–2 mm apart, indistinct above, distinct beneath; tertiaries faint, finely reticulate; intramarginal nerve 1-tiered, conspicuous, slender, c. 1 mm from margin. Inflorescence both terminal and axillary, 4–9 cm long, sub-corymbose panicles; flowers c. 38; peduncles 1.7–2.5 cm long, slender; peduncle and ramifications angled; ultimate branches end in 3 flowers. Bracts and bracteoles deltoid, c. 0.8 × 0.3 mm. Flowers sessile, 0.8–1 cm diam. at anthesis. Hypanthium campanulate, 3– 3.5 × 2.8–3 mm, reddish outside. Calyx shallowly 4-lobed; lobes deltoid, reddish. Petals orbicular, c. 2 mm across, white with pinkish tinge, membranous, gland dotted, calyptrate. Stamens many, unequal, 3.5–5 mm long, white; anthers ovate; filaments filiform. Ovary 2-locular; ovules 19–22 per locule; style slender, c. 5 mm long; stigma simple, acute. Fruit globose to subglobose, 1.1–1.5 × 1.1–1.4 cm, pericarp fleshy, green turns red to purple black when ripe, with smooth to undulating calyx rims, c. 1 mm high, 1-seeded.

Flowering & fruiting: Flowering and fruiting from March to May.

Habitat: Syzygium syzygioides is found in the lowland mixed evergreen forests, at an elevation of ± 110 m above sea level and is associated with Syzygium mundagam (Bourd.) Chithra ( Myrtaceae ), Ixora brachiata Roxb. ex DC. ( Rubiaceae ), Artocarpus hirsutus Lam. ( Moraceae ), Lannea coromandelica (Houtt.) Merr. ( Anacardiaceae ), Macaranga peltata (Roxb.) Muell.-Arg. ( Euphorbiaceae ), Mallotus philippensis (Lam.) Muell.-Arg. ( Euphorbiaceae ), Calycopteris floribunda (Roxb.) Poiret ( Combretaceae ), Aporosa cardiosperma (Gaertn.) Merr. ( Euphorbiaceae ), Capparis fusifera Dunn ( Capparidaceae ), Mangifera indica L. ( Anacardiaceae ), Flacourtia montana Graham ( Flacourtiaceae ), Xanthophyllum arnottianum Wight ( Xanthophyllaceae ), Artabotrys hexapetalus (Linn.f.) Bhandari ( Annonaceae ), Salacia brunoniana Wight & Arn. ( Celastraceae ), Terminalia paniculata Roth ( Combretaceae ), etc.

Distribution: Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Laos, Malesia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

Specimens examined: INDIA. Kerala, Kollam district, Arippa , ± 110 m., 08.03.2019, S.M. Shareef 79283, 79284; Ibid., 16.03.2019, S.M. Shareef 79287, 79288; Ibid., 30.04.2019, S.M. Shareef 79292 (TBGT) .

Notes: Syzygium syzygoides is an elegant tree which is more attractive during its flushing and flowering periods. It can be easily recognized from other species in the Western Ghats by the presence of slender and terete branchlets, crimson coloured young foliage, axillary and terminal inflorescences, small but white flowers with reddish tinged hypanthium and petals and small globose to subglobose fruits. The ripe fruits are edible ( Deb, 1981), sweet but are not used by the inhabitants of the present locality. The author noticed that the seedlings of this species are collected by the forest nursery at Kulathupuzha, near Arippa and are planted in degraded forest areas of Kollam, Pathanamthitta and Thiruvananthapuram districts as part of afforestation programmes. They locally named it as ‘ Tholnjaval ’, but correct identity of the species was unknown to them. As part of ex-situ conservation, this species was successfully introduced in Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute, Palode, Thiruvananthapuram.