|
Myrtaceae
Myrtle Family
By Ann Weinrich and Carol Loebl
A woody, mostly tropical (South America and Australia) family of some 75 genera
and 3000 species (BA1). Leaves simple and evergreen, usually opposite,
frequently fragrant, often glandular-spotted, and without stipules.
Plants sometimes dioecious, the flowers round and radially symmetrical
with 4-5 usually separate sepals, 4-5 petals, numerous often showy stamens, and
the ovary inferior. Fruit often a berry, drupe, or woody capsule. An important
family containing such members as the Eugenias, Eucalyptus, Myrtles, and
Bottlebrushes. The family contains fruits and spices, including Allspice,
Cloves, Jaboticaba, Guava, Strawberry Guava, and Grumichama. There are several
Florida invasive exotics, such as Java-Plum, Melaleuca, Guava, Strawberry-Guava,
Suriname-Cherry, and Downy Rose Myrtle. The Florida natives include the various
Stoppers. The “Eugenia” (Syzygium
paniculatum) of clipped hedges and topiary is in this family.
Key to Prominent Myrtaceae Cultivated in South Florida
1A. Trees or shrubs cultivated for edible fruits…17 (see also questions 3, 7, 8,
9, 10)
1B. Plants ornamental trees…2
1C. Plants ornamental shrubs (or potentially small trees)…5
2. Flowers red, branches weeping…Weeping Bottlebrush (Callistemon
viminalis)
2. Flowers white; branches erect or dangling…3
3. Fruit resembling a plum; perianth forming a cap over the flowers (true also
of Eucalyptus); leaves oblong and
opposite…Java-Plum (Syzygium
cumini) (invader in natural areas)
3. Fruit a woody capsule; leaves linear to lanceolate, alternate…4
4. Trees with papery, peeling bark, often found escaped in moist habitats;
flowers in a bottlebrush arrangement; leaves linear, glabrous…Melaleuca (Melaleuca
quinquenervia)
4. Trees with colorful, patchy, pattered bark; flowers in flat-topped clusters;
leaves broader than linear, hairy…Cadaga Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus
torelliana)
5. Leaves with white felt beneath; flowers showy and rose colored or purple, at
least on the inner side of the petals…6
5. Leaves not felty beneath…7
6. Petals felty on the outside, purple on the inside…Feijoa (Acca
sellowiana)
6. Petals not felty, rose-pink on both sides…Downy Rose Myrtle (Rhodomyrtus
tomentosa)
7. Fruit red, the size of a large cherry, ribbed; leaves sessile or nearly
so…Suriname-Cherry (Eugenia uniflora)
7. Fruit otherwise; leaves usually petiolate…8
8. Leaf blades with the veins conspicuously impressed above, and raised below;
fruit the size of a tennis ball with persistent calyx (see
Psidium littorale also),
the flesh pink…Guava (Psidium
guajava)
8. Plants otherwise…9
9. Flowers showy with well developed petals, about 1” in diam.; fruit fleshy
with persistent calyx; bark patterned (see also
Myrcianthes fragrans)…Strawberry Guava (Psidium
littorale)
9. Plants otherwise…10
10. Plants with flowers or purple fleshy fruits arranged along the thick
branches and trunks…Jaboticaba (Myrciaria
cauliflora)
10. Flowers and fruits not borne along the main branches and trunks…11
11. Leaves with the margins rolled under, having tiny spots on both
surfaces…Simpson Stopper (Myrcianthes
fragrans)
11. Leaves flat, not dotted, or dotted only on one surface…12
12. Branches forking evenly into Y shapes; calyx forming a caplike lid on the
flowers…13
12. Branches not in a Y-pattern; calyx not forming a lid on the flowers…14
13. Stem not winged; center leaf vein raised above the surface…Myrtle of the
River (Calyptranthes
zuzygium)
13. Stem winged; center leaf vein not raised above the upper leaf surface…Pale
Lidflower (Calyptranthes
pallens)
14. Leaf veins reddish; flowers on long stalks…Long-Stalked Stopper (Mosiera
longipes)
14. Leaf veins and peduncles otherwise…15
15. Leaf with a faint yellow margin…Red Stopper (Eugenia
rhombea)
15. Leaf margin otherwise…16 (with 3 choices)
16A. Leaf blades rounded at the apex…Spanish Stopper (Eugenia
foetida)
16B. Leaf blade apices acute; foliage with skunky odor…White Stopper (Eugenia
axillaris)
16C. Leaf blade apices acuminate; foliage not skunky…Redberry Stopper (Eugenia
confusa)
17. Grapelike fruits (or small white flowers) borne sessile along the stem…Jaboticaba
(Myrciaria
cauliflora) (Grumichama is similar in some ways but the fruits are on
long pedicels.)
17. Otherwise…18
18. Fruit red, cherry-sized, ribbed, the leaves almost sessile…Suriname-Cherry (Eugenia
uniflora)
18. Leaf blades with the veins conspicuously impressed above, and raised below;
fruit the size of a tennis ball with persistent calyx, the flesh pink…Guava (Psidium
guajava) (Pineapple-Guava, Feijoa, has a white felt beneath the leaves,
and flowers purple on the inside.
Pineapple-Guava has a red (or yellow) fruit about an inch in diameter.)
18. Otherwise…19
19. Fruit enlarged at one end (vaguely pear-shaped), usually but not always
reddish…Wax Jambu (Syzygium
samarangense; see that species below for further differentiation from
similar and related species)
19. Fruit plum-shaped, cherry-shaped (or acorn-shaped)…20
20. Fruit red, elongate, shaped like a football or an acorn, the size of a large
cherry…Rio Grande-Cherry (Eugenia
aggregata, See Eugenia
brasiliensis below)
20. Otherwise…21
21. Leaves > 3” long; fruit purple, white, or yellow…22
21. Leaves < 3” long; fruit orange…Pitomba (Eugenia
luschnathiana)
22. Fruit purple; leaf blades acute…Java Plum (Syzygium
cumini)
22. Fruit white or yellowish with gray flecks; leaf blades with tapering pointed
tips…Malabar Plum (Syzygium
jambos)
Other plants listed in the manual include:
Syzygium malaccense
Syzygium paniculatum
|
