Syzygium gratum (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Syzygium gratum (Wight) S.N. Mitra

Protologue: Indian Forester 99: 100 (1973).

Synonyms

• Eugenia grata Wight (1841),
• Eugenia glaucicalyx Merr. (1906),
• Syzygium glaucicalyx (Merr.) Merr. (1951).

Vernacular names

• Philippines: mariig (Tagalog), kalaum (Culion), malaruhat (Laguna)
• Thailand: khraimet (Chiang Mai), sametchun (central), metchun (peninsular).

Distribution

India, Burma (Myanmar), Thailand and the Philippines.

Uses

The timber is used for construction of houses, ships and bridges, and for furniture and implements. Young shoots are eaten locally as a vegetable.

Observations

• A medium-sized tree up to 20 m tall, bole branchless for up to 10 m and up to 80 cm in diameter.
• Leaves variable in shape and size, ovate to lanceolate or narrowly elliptical, 5-11.5 cm × 1.5-5 cm, with 10-15 pairs of secondary veins, petiole up to 10.5 mm long.
• Flowers in axillary or terminal panicles, white, calyx 4-9.5 mm long, with 5 minute lobes.
• Fruit globose, white.

S. gratum is a highly variable species and possibly closely allied to S. zeylanicum. It occurs in the Philippines in primary forest up to 600 m altitude, in Thailand in dry evergreen and mixed deciduous forest up to 1400 m altitude. The supply of the timber in the Philippines is very limited. The wood is dark reddish-brown, heavy (c. 960 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content), hard and durable.

Selected sources

90, 414, 426, 527.

See also Dyes and tannins