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.
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