Syzygium grande (Wight) Walp., Repert. 2 (1843)

Latin for 'large', referring to the coarse twigs and leaves and large flower buds.

Synonyms
Eugenia cymosa Roxb.
Eugenia firma Wall.
Eugenia grandis Wight
Eugenia laosensis Gagn.
Eugenia laosensis var. quocensis Gagnep.
Eugenia montana Wight [Illegitimate]
Jambosa firma Blume
Jambosa grandis (Wight) Blume
Syzygium endertii Merr. & Perry
Syzygium firmum (Blume) Thwaites
Syzygium gadgilii M.R.Almeida [Illegitimate]
Syzygium grande var. parviflorum Chantaran. & J.Parn.
Syzygium laosense (Gagn.) Merr. & Perry
Syzygium laosense var. quocense (Gagnep.) H.T.Chang & R.H.Miao
Syzygium megaphyllum Merr. & Perry
Syzygium montanum Thwaites & Hook.f.
Syzygium tamilnadensis Rathakr. & V.Chithra [Illegitimate]

Diagnostics
Upper canopy tree up to 45 m tall and 75(-80) cm dbh. Stipules absent. Leaves opposite, simple, penni-veined, venation prominent, glabrous. Flowers ca. 12 mm diameter, white-yellowish, protruding stamens, flowers in panicles. Fruits ca. 35 mm diameter, green?, fleshy berries.

Description
Large tree to 30(-45) m tall, 80 cm diameter, with dense dark crown of glossy leaves; bark pale grey- to pink-brown, becoming cracked and flaky; inner bark pink-brown. Parts hairless. Twig c.3 mm diameter, stout, terete, pale brown, smooth. Leaf blade c.16 x 9(12-20 x 6-10) cm, elliptic-ovate, leathery, without pits or dots, drying somewhat glistening above, dull dark warm chocolate-brown beneath; base wedge-shaped, tapering into c.16 mm stout petiole; apex bluntly broadly acuminate, down-curved; midrib stout; veins unequal, main veins c.16 pairs with long intermediates, distinctly raised throughout, prominent beneath, spreading; tertiaries distinctly raised throughout, lax; intramarginal veins 1(3) pairs, 3-6 mm within margin, arched. Panicle to 3-terminal or 1-subterminal axillary, to 14 cm long, rather slender, terete, 2-branched; bracts to 3 mm long, lanceolate, fugaceous. Flower bud c.10 x 6 mm, pear-shaped with spherical head and prominent to 8 mm tapering pseudostalk; sepal lobes 4, c.5 x 5 mm, broadly ovate, thick and hyaline at tips only, strongly unequal, obtuse, overlapping one another; stamens many, cream-white or sometimes pink, extruded 10 mm at anthesis, style 12 mm, the sepal lobes remaining erect. Fruit to 4 x 3 cm, ellipsoid, smooth, with prominent c.6 mm diameter apical calyx rim. [from Tree Flora of Sabah and Sarawak]

Ecology
In forest on rocky sea shores and sandy beaches behind the Casuarina, but also in undisturbed mixed dipterocarp, keranga, swamp and ultramafic forests up to 1700 m altitude. Often on alluvial sites near or along rivers and streams, but also on hillsides and ridges. On sandy soils.

Uses
Often planted as a shade tree, or fire break.

Distribution
Burma and Indo-China, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo.

Local names
Borneo: Jambu air, Obar, Ubal pek, Ubar, War, War pulut.