Syzygium australe (Wendl. ex Link) B.Hyland, Myrtaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  High risk, score: 15 (Go to the risk assessment)

Other Latin names:  Eugenia australis J. C. Wendl. ex Link; Eugenia myrtifolia Sims

Common name(s): [more details]

English: brush-cherry, creek lilly-pilly, creek satin-ash, creek satinash, creek-cherry, scrub-cherry, watergum

Habit:  shrub/tree

Description:  "Large shrub or small tree to c. 10 m high; bark smooth, light grey; pneumatophores 0. Branchlets ± pendent, angular. Leaves aromatic when crushed; petiole < 10 mm long. Lamina mostly 4-10-(13) x 1-3.5-(4) cm, sometimes smaller near base of branchlets and below inflorescence, often narrowly elliptic, sometimes elliptic or obovate, glossy, slightly undulate; veins numerous, conspicuous and parallel; base attenuate or narrowly cuneate; apex mostly cuspidate to acuminate, but sharply acute in obovate leaves. Cymes with 3-25 flowers, terminal or in the upper axils of short leafy branchlets, to c. 15 cm in diameter; peduncles to c. 4 cm long; pedicels shorter, slender, angular. Hypanthium 4-6 mm long at anthesis, obconic, generally dark red at least on exposed side; pseudopedicel hardly evident; calyx lobes 2-4 mm long, broadly triangular-ovate, sometimes dark red, persistent on fruit. Petals c. 4 mm in diameter, free, suborbicular, white, caducous. Stamens to c. 13 mm long, white. Style ± = longest stamens. Fruit. 1-2-(2.5) x 0.7-1.5-(2) cm, oblong to obovoid, crimson to crimson-purple, ± glossy. Seed 1 or few, large; cotyledons green"  (Webb et al., 1988; 867).

Habitat/ecology:  In Australia (native): "Altitudinal range from sea level to 1100 m. Grows as a rheophyte in fringing forest along water courses"  (Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants).  In New Zealand, "roadside banks or in scrub near gardens, or disturbed and rather open forest remnants"  (Webb et al., 1988; 867).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Australia (eastern Queensland and New South Wales) (GRIN).

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	Hawai‘i (Big) Island		Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.) (1958) (voucher ID: BISH 59860) Taxon name on voucher: Syzygium australe (Wendl. ex Link) B. Hyland
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island		Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.) (1925) (voucher ID: BISH 59856) Taxon name on voucher: Syzygium australe (Wendl. ex Link) B. Hyland

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia Australia (continental)	New South Wales	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Australia Australia (continental)	Queensland	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive cultivated	Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. (1988) (p. 867)

Control:  From Weedbusters New Zealand:

Physical:  Pull or dig seedlings (all year round). Leave on site to rot down.

Chemical:  1. Cut and squirt or bore and fill (all year round): Make 1 cut or bore 1 hole every 100mm around the trunk and apply metsulfuron-methyl 600g/kg (2g) to each cut or hole.
2. Cut down and paint stump (all year round): metsulfuron-methyl 600g/kg (5g /L).  
3. Spray (spring-autumn): metsulfuron-methyl 600g/kg (5g/10L + penetrant).

Additional information:
Information from the Australian Native Plants Society.
Fact sheet from Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants.
Fact sheet from Weedbusters New Zealand.

Additional online information about Syzygium australe is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Syzygium australe as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Syzygium australe may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.). 1925. Voucher specimen #BISH59856(Judd, C.S. 30).

Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.). 1958. Voucher specimen #BISH59860(Rock, J.F.C. s.n.).

Hyland, B. P. M./Whiffin, T./Zich, F. A. 2011. Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants Edition 6 (online resource).

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. 1988. Flora of New Zealand, Volume IV: Naturalised pteridophytes, gymnosperms, dicotyledons. Botany Division, DSIR, Christchurch. 1365 pp.