Syzygium grande (Wight) Walp., Myrtaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Other Latin names:  Eugenia grandis Wight

Common name(s): [more details]

English: sea apple

Habit:  tree

Description:  "A big tree, up to c. 30 meters tall; bark grayish buff or pinkish, rough, shallowly fissured, somewhat flaky in big trees; inner bark pale pink to dark reddish, pale yellow near surface.  Twigs rather slender, terete, brownish or greyish with smooth or slightly flaky bark.  Leaves coriaceous, elliptic, elliptic oblong, ovate elliptic or ovate rotund, up to c. 25 cm x 12 cm or more in saplings, usually smaller, apex more or less shortly acuminate and deflexed, or blunt, base cuneate, or broad and narrowed abruptly on to petiole; upper surface shining in life, minutely glandular punctate, slightly bullate, drying olivaceous to blackish, lower paler in life, dull, with a close covering of very minute pale glistening scaly glands, drying dark brown or reddish, the glands then almost invisible; midrib impressed above, elevate below and longitudinally wrinkled; primary nerves up to c. 14 pairs in large leaves, usually 1-2 cm apart, usually elevate and slender above, elevate below and slightly ascending, nearly straight or very slightly curved up to an intramarginal nerve 3-6 mm from leaf margin with often a fainter loop very close to the margin; secondaries and reticulations usually raised on both surfaces and distinct, but less prominent than primaries; petiole channeled above, drying black, up to c. 2 cm long.  Panicles terminal or from uppermost axils, often clustered, up to c. 14 cm long, pedunculate or nearly sessile, rachis and spreading branchlets more slender than twigs, compressed, drying dark brown or black; flowers c. 2.5-3 cm across when expanded, fragrant, calyx pale yellow green, petals and stamens white, disc yellow, in threes at branchlet ends, sessile or pedicellate, the outer two flowers of the triads usually sessile or occasionally very shortly pedicellate, the center flower sometimes on a pedicel as much as 4 mm long, sometimes sessile; calyx c. 1.2 cm long, narrowly campanulate, c. 6-7 mm across apex before expansion, very slightly constricted below lobes and tapering to a short not very distinctly marked pseudostalk c. 2 mm long, which is more evident in the dried flower; tube nearly smooth; lobes 4, very unequal, subpersistent, the two outer very short and broad, 1-2 mm tall, the two inner petaloid, orbicular, concave, thinner, gland dotted, c. 5 mm in diameter; petals 4, white tinged pale green, more or less orbicular, c. 5 mm in diameter, reflexed after anthesis; stamens numerous, filaments slender, subulate, up to c. 1.5 cm long, anthers ovate oblong, or broadly oblong, c. 0.6-0.7 mm long, connective gland very small and inconspicuous; ovary 2-celled, multiovulate.  Fruit more or less globular, often a little compressed laterally, or elliptic or elliptic oblong, more or less asymmetric, up to c. 4 cm x 3 cm, green when ripe with very faint narrow longitudinal stripes of slightly darker green; apical umbilicus deep, 8-9 mm in diameter, fringed with remains of calyx tube and occasionally the calyx lobes, style base persistent; pericarp pithy-leathery, white, c. 3 mm thick, slightly sweet; seed globose or compressed, up to c. 2.5 cm in diameter, testa thick, crustaceous, not easily removed from cotyledons, c. 1 mm thick; cotyledons nearly equal, very pale green with minute slightly darker dots, inner faces more or less plane, attached to hypocotyle c. 5 mm from periphery of seed, sessile.  Germination hypogeal"  (Henderson, 1942; pp. 87, 89).

"This tree...is characterized by its broadly elliptical leaves (10-25 cm x 6-12 cm) with up to 20 well-spaced secondary veins in a pinnate arrangement, the veins appearing to disappear before reaching the leaf margin.  The fruits are urn-shaped to ellipsoid berries, apparently green when ripe, 1-2 cm in length, containing a single seed ca. 5-7 mm in size"  (Daehler & Baker, 2006; pp. 9-10).

Habitat/ecology:  "Wild only on sandy and rocky seacoasts.  Much planted inland as a roadside tree"  (Henderson, 1942; p. 87).

In Hawai‘i (O‘ahu), naturalized in Lyon Arboretum where  "hundreds of seedlings and saplings were seen, mostly within 100 m of the original plantings in both Haukulu and ‘Aihualama.  Although only four trees were recorded as planted in ‘Aihualama, over a dozen mature trees >10 m tall and thickets of saplings 1-5 m tall in unmanaged secondary forest"  (Daehler & Baker, 2006; pp. 9-10).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Tropical Asia (Daehler & Baker, 2006; p. 9).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Daehler, Curtis C./Baker, Raymond F. (2006) (pp. 9-10) Vouchers cited: Daehler 1108 (BISH), D. Herbst 648 (HLA), J. Lau 2294 (BISH)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Singapore Singapore	Singapore (Republic of)	native	Chong, Kwek Yan/Tan, Hugh T. W./Corlett, Richard T. (2009) (p. 83) Common

Indian Ocean
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia (Indian Ocean offshore islands) Christmas Island Group	Christmas Island	introduced cultivated	Swarbrick, J. T. (1997) (p. 128)

Control:  If you know of control methods for Syzygium grande, please let us know.