Syzygium tawahense (Korth.) Merr. & Perry, Mem. Amer. Ac. 18 (1939)

Latin for 'from Tawau', a place in Borneo.

Synonyms
Eugenia tawahensis (Korth.) Burgess
Jambosa tawahensis Korth.

Diagnostics
Sub-canopy tree up to 30 m tall and 77(-100) cm dbh. Stipules absent. Leaves opposite, simple, penni-veined, venation conspicuous, glabrous. Flowers ca. 13 mm diameter, white, with protruding stamens, flowers in panicles. Fruits ca. 20 mm diameter, green, ridged, fleshy berries.

Description
Medium-sized canopy tree to 30 m tall and 1m diameter, with short stout buttresses; bark mauve-brown, becoming cracked and flaky. Parts hairless. Twig c.4 mm diameter apically, stout, elliptic, smooth, grey-brown. Leaf blade c.17 x 8(10-23 x 4-10) cm, elliptic-oblong, thickly leathery, drying warm purplish-brown, slightly shiny above (more so in juveniles), slightly milky beneath; base wedge-shaped tapering into c.1 cm stout stalk, acumen c.1 cm tapering; faintly pimpled on both surfaces; veins unequal, main veins c.12 pairs with prominent intermediates, prominent on both surfaces though more so below, spreading, not furrowed above; tertiaries distinct on both surfaces; intramarginal veins 2, main vein well within margin, looped. Panicle to 10 cm long, terminal or axillary, 3-branched, elliptic, stout, spreading with the flowers bunched at the branch endings; bracts and bracteoles to 2 x 2 mm, triangular, fugaceous or sometimes to 12 x 3 mm, acicular, keeled, subpersistent. Flower bud to 10 x 5 mm, clove-shaped, tapering to base without distinct pseudostalk, ribbed; sepal lobes c.1.5 x 1.5 mm, subequal, small but distinct, ovate, strongly cupped, erect, breaking off at flowering leaving a vase shaped ribbed receptacle; stamens many, extending 8 mm, style 6 mm. Fruit to 3 cm diameter, spherical with small apical sepal rim, prominently ribbed and more or less warty, drying green. [from Tree Flora of Sabah and Sarawak]

Ecology
In undisturbed mixed dipterocarp, coastal, mangrove, swamp and sub-montane forests up to 1000 m altitude. On alluvial sites near rivers and streams, but also common on hillsides and ridges. On sandy soils.

Uses
The timber is locally used for fence posts.

Distribution
Borneo.

Local names
Borneo: Lunoh-lunoh, Obah, Obah bukit, Obah merah, Obar, Sulang-sulang.