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Syzygium smithii
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Syzygium smithii
Syzygium smithii (formerly Acmena smithii) is a summer-flowering, winter-fruiting evergreen tree native to Australia that belongs to the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. It shares the common name "lilly pilly" with several other plants. It is planted as shrubs or hedgerows, and features: rough, woody bark; cream and green smooth, waxy leaves; flushes of pink new growth; and white to maroon edible berries. Unpruned, it will grow about 3–5 m (9.8–16.4 ft) tall in the garden.
Syzygium smithii's name dates from its 1789 description as Eugenia smithii by French botanist Jean Louis Marie Poiret, its specific name honouring James Edward Smith, who had described it two years earlier as E. elliptica. The name was unusable due to that combination having been used for another species. It gained its current binomial name in 1893 when it was reclassified in the genus Syzygium by German botanist Franz Josef Niedenzu, and since 2009, the Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria's (CHAH) Australian Plant Census has confirmed the recognition of this current name.
Common names include lilly pilly, Chinese Apple, coast satinash, Eungella gum, and in the timber trade, lilipilli satinash. It was known as Tdgerail by Aboriginal Australians of the Illawarra region and Coochin-coochin by others in Queensland.
Syzygium smithii grows as a tree to 20 m (66 ft) high by 5–15 m (16–49 ft) wide, with a trunk attaining a diameter of 70 cm (2.3 ft). The largest tree was recorded at Dingo Creek Flora Reserve, south of Tenterfield, being 30 m (98 ft) tall and a trunk 60 cm (2.0 ft) wide.
The trunk is sometimes buttressed. The bark is brown and scaled and flakes off easily. Its dark green shiny leaves are arranged oppositely on the stems, and are lanceolate or ovate and measure 2–10 by 1–3 cm (1–4 by 0.5–1 in). The cream-white flowers appear from October to March, occurring in panicles at the end of small branches. Berries follow on, appearing from May to August, and are oval or globular with a shallow depression at the top. They measure 0.8 to 2 cm in diameter, and range from white to maroon in colour.
A distinctive narrow leaved form with thin leaves 3–6 cm long is found along rainforest riverbanks from Sydney northwards through Queensland, (rheophytic race) and a small leaved form (known as the small-leaved race or var. minor) with leaves measuring 1.6–6 cm found in dryer rainforests from Colo Heights near Sydney north to the Bunya Mountains.
Syzygium smithii is found in rainforest from the Windsor Tablelands in north-east Queensland south through New South Wales and Victoria to Wilsons Promontory. Associated trees species include bangalow palm (Archontophoenix cunninghamiana), ironwood (Backhousia myrtifolia), black wattle (Callicoma serratifolia), sassafras, (Doryphora sassafras), blueberry ash (Elaeocarpus reticulatus), pinkwood (Eucryphia moorei), sweet pittosporum (Pittosporum undulatum) and kanuka (Tristaniopsis laurina). Stunted coastal plants are often associated with coast banksia (Banksia integrifolia).
The Australian king parrot, crimson rosella, rose-crowned fruit-dove, superb fruit-dove, topknot pigeon, white-headed pigeon, wonga pigeon, satin bowerbird, and pied currawong have all been recorded eating the berries as have brushtail possums and flying foxes. Ringtail possums also eat fresh leaves. In New Zealand, wood pigeons (kererū) eat the fruit and disperse the seeds. The leaf-mining larvae of the moth species Pectinivalva acmenae feed on the leaves. Other moth larvae that feed on the leaves include the species Agriophara horrida, Cryptophasa pultenae and Macarostola formosa.
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Syzygium smithii
Syzygium smithii (formerly Acmena smithii) is a summer-flowering, winter-fruiting evergreen tree native to Australia that belongs to the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. It shares the common name "lilly pilly" with several other plants. It is planted as shrubs or hedgerows, and features: rough, woody bark; cream and green smooth, waxy leaves; flushes of pink new growth; and white to maroon edible berries. Unpruned, it will grow about 3–5 m (9.8–16.4 ft) tall in the garden.
Syzygium smithii's name dates from its 1789 description as Eugenia smithii by French botanist Jean Louis Marie Poiret, its specific name honouring James Edward Smith, who had described it two years earlier as E. elliptica. The name was unusable due to that combination having been used for another species. It gained its current binomial name in 1893 when it was reclassified in the genus Syzygium by German botanist Franz Josef Niedenzu, and since 2009, the Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria's (CHAH) Australian Plant Census has confirmed the recognition of this current name.
Common names include lilly pilly, Chinese Apple, coast satinash, Eungella gum, and in the timber trade, lilipilli satinash. It was known as Tdgerail by Aboriginal Australians of the Illawarra region and Coochin-coochin by others in Queensland.
Syzygium smithii grows as a tree to 20 m (66 ft) high by 5–15 m (16–49 ft) wide, with a trunk attaining a diameter of 70 cm (2.3 ft). The largest tree was recorded at Dingo Creek Flora Reserve, south of Tenterfield, being 30 m (98 ft) tall and a trunk 60 cm (2.0 ft) wide.
The trunk is sometimes buttressed. The bark is brown and scaled and flakes off easily. Its dark green shiny leaves are arranged oppositely on the stems, and are lanceolate or ovate and measure 2–10 by 1–3 cm (1–4 by 0.5–1 in). The cream-white flowers appear from October to March, occurring in panicles at the end of small branches. Berries follow on, appearing from May to August, and are oval or globular with a shallow depression at the top. They measure 0.8 to 2 cm in diameter, and range from white to maroon in colour.
A distinctive narrow leaved form with thin leaves 3–6 cm long is found along rainforest riverbanks from Sydney northwards through Queensland, (rheophytic race) and a small leaved form (known as the small-leaved race or var. minor) with leaves measuring 1.6–6 cm found in dryer rainforests from Colo Heights near Sydney north to the Bunya Mountains.
Syzygium smithii is found in rainforest from the Windsor Tablelands in north-east Queensland south through New South Wales and Victoria to Wilsons Promontory. Associated trees species include bangalow palm (Archontophoenix cunninghamiana), ironwood (Backhousia myrtifolia), black wattle (Callicoma serratifolia), sassafras, (Doryphora sassafras), blueberry ash (Elaeocarpus reticulatus), pinkwood (Eucryphia moorei), sweet pittosporum (Pittosporum undulatum) and kanuka (Tristaniopsis laurina). Stunted coastal plants are often associated with coast banksia (Banksia integrifolia).
The Australian king parrot, crimson rosella, rose-crowned fruit-dove, superb fruit-dove, topknot pigeon, white-headed pigeon, wonga pigeon, satin bowerbird, and pied currawong have all been recorded eating the berries as have brushtail possums and flying foxes. Ringtail possums also eat fresh leaves. In New Zealand, wood pigeons (kererū) eat the fruit and disperse the seeds. The leaf-mining larvae of the moth species Pectinivalva acmenae feed on the leaves. Other moth larvae that feed on the leaves include the species Agriophara horrida, Cryptophasa pultenae and Macarostola formosa.
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