General Info – summary

This evergreen Tree has a rounded crown is up to 11m high + small vertically fissured grey bark.  Young stems are 4-angled.  The decussate flattish Leaves with entire margins are simple and lack stipules.  The small, sweet scented, bisexual and regular Flowers have white exserted stamens providing flower colour. The inferior ovary ends with a simple stigma and a flattish style.  Fruit a berry with a single seeded stone.

Description

Syzygium legatii

Previous Names: Syzygium guineense subsp. legatii.

SA Tree No. 558.

Common names:  (Afr) Bergwaterbessie, Waterbos, Waterpeer.  (Eng) Mountain Umdoni, Mountain Waterberry, Water Pear, White umdoni.  (isiZulu) Umdoni-wamanzi.  (Setswana) Mosane.  (Tshivenda) Mutawi.  (Tsonga) Muthwa.

Family: Myrtaceae (Myrtle and Eucalyptus family) has 130+ genera and 3 000+ species and includes the Australian genus Eucalyptus, as well as guava and clove.  These mostly evergreen trees have simple Leaves that are leathery, usually entire, gland-dotted and usually opposite.  Stipules are very small or absent.  Flowers are regular, usually bisexual and 4 or 5-merous.  However, petals may be small or absent.  The many Stamens are inflexed in the bud and Anthers are 2-thecous (with 2 pollen sacs).  They usually open by lengthwise slits.  The usually inferior Ovary has a simple Style with a capitate Stigma.  The Fruit is a capsule or berry with a persistent Calyx.  Local genera with trees on this website include Eugenia, Heteropyxis, Metrosideros (Western Cape) and Syzygium.

Name derivation: Syzygium – refers to the opposite pairs of leaves that are decussate (have successive pairs of leaves at right angles to each other i.e. rotated 90 degrees along the stem when viewed from above).  legatii – named after the Scotsman and Chief Conservator of SA Forests: C E Legat. (1913-1931).

Conservation: National Status: L C. (Least Concern).  Assessment: 2004 (J. E. Victor).

Tree

The small to medium high (photo 792) Stem (trunk: main axis of the plant, the leaf and flower bearing as distinguished from the root-bearing axis) may reach 10m high.  It has a dense, rounded crown with branches that are low-down, and brown to greyish brown.  The Bark is rough and grey with small vertical fissures (photo 787), which reveal a slightly orange underbark.  Young stems are 4-angled and may be pinkish and possibly winged.

Leaves

On this impressive, densely leafy evergreen tree, the hairless Leaves are simple (have a single blade which may have incisions that are not deep enough to divide the leaf into leaflets). Leaves are decussate (opposite pairs of leaves have successive pairs at right angles to each other i.e. rotated 90 degrees along the stem when viewed from above).  Leaves are flattish, leathery and held stiffly erect.  They are gland-dotted, elliptic to oblong-elliptic and up to 5,5 x 2,8cm.  The Midrib is visible on both sides but is especially noticeable where it protrudes above (photo 789).  Transparent gland dots may also be visible.  The young leaves may be pinkish and the mature Blade is darkish glossy green above (photo 789) and slightly lighter below where many, parallel lateral veins and distinct net veining are just visible (photo 788).  The rolled under and possibly and wavy Margins are flat and entire (with a continuous margin, not in any way indented).  The Apex tapers to a point and may form a drip tip.  The Base is rounded or tapering – unlike Syzygium cordatum where the base may be deeply lobed and decurrent (leaf blades that partly wrap or have wings around the stem or petiole).  The sturdy Petiole (leaf stalk) is up to 4mm long.  Stipules (basal appendages of the petiole) are absent.

Flowers

The small, white, sweet scented and bisexual Flowers are actinomorphic (Regular, symmetrical.  Flowers are vertically divisible into similar halves by more than 1 plane passing through the axis).  These Flowers occur in small-branched terminal heads.  The Calyx has short, red-tipped Sepals that emerge from a tube that is yellow or pink.  The Petal lobes are connate (united or joined) and fall early.  In the bud, the large number of long, thin Stamens are inflexed (bent or curved inwards).  When mature, the prominent, numerous (more than twice the number of petals) and distinctly exserted (sticking out) Stamens are much longer than the petals and provide the white flower colour.  The Anthers are hung or attached near the middle, and usually moving freely.  The single Pistil (a unit of the Gynoecium, the female element of the flower, composed of the Ovary, Style and Stigma) has an inferior, 2-locular Ovary with a few ovules in each locule.  It ends in a single, simple Stigma supported by a thickish flattened Style.  The ovary rests on the upper part of the Receptacle (that expanded tip of the flower stalk from which the floral parts develop and is greatly expanded in the Asteraceae and Ficus).  (Oct-Jan).

Fruit

The oval or pear-shaped Fruit may be almost spherical and is a Berry (pulpy, indehiscent fruit like a grape or tomato) that becomes purple or black when mature and up to 1,5cm wide.  It contains a single locule by abortion and ends with a visible, crown-like, persistent Calyx.  The juicy ripe fruit is deep red or purple when mature.  It contains a single large stone (the hard covering enclosing the seed – like a peach).  (Feb–Nov).

Distribution & Ecology

These frost resistant plants are located in northern KwaZulu-Natal in the upper reaches of the Pongola and Bivane Rivers, Mpumalanga and in Limpopo and northwards into tropical Africa.  Plants also occur in southern Eswatini (Swaziland).  They are often found between 1 000-1 800m on ridges of Quartzite soils (quartzite Rock is composed almost entirely of quartz.  It is non-foliated and usually forms from the metamorphism of sandstone ridges).  Plants are common close to rivers and mist-belt mountain slopes e.g. in the Soutpansberg (Soutpansberg Mountains or “Salt Pan Mountain.”  This range runs for about 100km roughly east west in Northern Limpopo Province).  The plant grows on islands in riverbeds and survive being submerged during flooding.  Vervet monkeys eat the Buds and Flowers.  Baboons and birds, like the Green Pigeon (Treron calvus) eat the Fruit.  This bird thrives in riparian woodland (a forested or wooded area of land adjacent to a body of water.  They also consume all figs.  Bees are the agents of pollination.

Ethnobotany

This specimen makes a good slow growing container plant.  The Fruit is edible and has a good flavour and thus people also aid in seed dispersal.  The Wood is reddish-brown and is fairly hard, strong and durable.  The Bark is poisonous.  Propagation is by fresh black seeds planted directly after the fleshy fruit has been removed.  They grow best near a reasonably water supply.  This can be a difficult plant to identify.  This tree is a good garden prospect with useable fruits and a provider of deep shade.  Myrtle rust is a fungal disease which attacks soft, actively growing leaves, shoot tips and young stems.  It is first visible as small purple flecks.  Treatment is with an appropriate fungicide.

References

Boon, R. 2010. Pooley’s Trees of eastern South Africa. Flora and Fauna Publications Trust, Durban.

Coates Palgrave, M. 2002. Keith Coates Palgrave Trees of Southern Africa, edn 3. Struik, Cape Town.

Ginn, P. J, McIlleron, W.G, & Mimstein, P. le S. 1991. The Complete Book of South African Birds. Struik, Cape Town/Singapore.

Lawrence, G. H. M, 1951. Taxonomy of Vascular Plants. The Macmillan Company, New York. Tenth Printing 1965.

Palmer, E. & Pitman, N. 1972. Trees of southern Africa. Balkema, Amsterdam, Cape Town.

Schmidt, S. Lotter, M. & McCleland, W. 2002. Trees and Shrubs of Mpumalanga and the Kruger National Park. Jacana, Johannesburg.

van Wyk, B. & van Wyk, P. 1997 Field guide to Trees of Southern Africa. Struik, Cape Town.

Victor, J.E. 2004. Syzygium legatii Burtt Davy & Greenway. National Assessment: Red List of South African Plants version 2020.1. Accessed on 2024/02/01.

 

https://www.ispotnature.org/node/578047

http://www.lind.org.zw/treesociety/2000/oct2000.htm

http://posa.sanbi.org/flora/browse.php?src=SP