NZ Myrtaceae Key - Online edition

Syncarpia glomulifera (Sm.) Nied.


Common Names

turpentine, turpentine tree, yanderra

Origin

Australia: coastal Queensland to New South Wales.

Cultivation

In New Zealand cultivated as a landscape tree of parks and gardens.

Distribution

Scattered records from the main centres in the North Island and from Nelson in the South Island of New Zealand.

Distinguishing Features

Habit

Tree to 50 m tall.

Bark and Stem/Trunk

Bark fibrous to stringy, furrowed, greyish. Branchlets densely hairy, becoming hairless with age.

Leaves

Adult leaves alternate or opposite along stems, whorls of four at the tips of branches, 70–110 mm long, 25–45 mm wide, blade ovate to elliptic, flat, upper surface dull green, lower surface velvety white, side-veins at ± 45° to midrib, oil glands present; tips pointed; base tapering to stalk (attenuate); leaf stalk 10–20 mm long. Leaves aromatic when rubbed.

Flowers

Flower clusters terminal on branches. Flowers white, in clusters of 7, fused at the base to form a globular head. Mature buds fused in sevens. Mature flowers with 4–5 oval petals, 5–8 mm long, and 4–5 persistent sepals. Stamens numerous, white, longer than petals. Main flowering period: spring to summer.

Fruit

Fruit a conglomerate of 7 fused woody capsules on a stalk ± 20–30 mm long, individual capsule rims about ± 5 mm wide, entire fused structure ± 15–20 mm wide.

Similar Species

The combination of leaves alternate or opposite along stems, and whorled at the tips of branches, coupled with buds, flowers and capsules aggregated into groups of seven uniquely diagnose this species.

Notes

Two subspecies of S. glomulifera are recognised, and both occur in New Zealand: The lower leaf surface is either covered by fine hairs in S. glomulifera subsp. glomulifera or smooth in S. glomulifera subsp. glabra.

Syncarpia is a genus of three species endemic to Queensland and New South Wales in Australia. Only S. glomulifera is known to be present in New Zealand.

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