Myrtaceae FAMILY
Syzygium guineense
Syzygium guineense
Edibility
3/5
Medicinal
3/5
Safety & Hazards
The poisonous bark has been reported to cause human deaths[1].
Cultivation Details
HabitEvergreen Tree
Growth—
A plant of the tropics, where it is found at elevations up to 2,100 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 15 - 30°c, but can tolerate 10 - 38°c[1]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 1,000 - 2,300mm, but tolerates 800 - 3,000mm[1]. Grows best in a sunny position[1]. Prefers a moist but well-drained soil with a high water table[2, 1]. Prefers a pH in the range 5.5 - 7, tolerating 5 - 7.5[1]. Trees usually bear considerable quantities of fruit[2]. Trees respond well to coppicing and pollarding[3, 4]. Although this plant can vary widely in habit, it varies little in leaf and flower shape[5].
References
- [1]Ecocrop — http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home ↩︎Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
- [2]Edible Wild Plants of Tanzania — Ruffo, C.K.: Birnie, A. & Tengnas, B. · Regional Land Management Unit; Nairobi. · 2002 · ISBN 9966-896-60-0 ↩︎A very well presented, simple guide to growing and utilizing wild food plants in Tanzania, with line drawings of each plant, a description, habitat and range, non-food as well as food uses, plus basic information on growing the plants.
- [3]Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. — http://www.prota.org ↩︎An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
- [4]World Agroforesty Centre — http://www.worldagroforestry.org/ ↩︎An excellent online database of a huge range of trees giving very good information on each plant - its uses, ecology, identity, propagation, pests etc.
- [5]Flora Zambesiaca — http://apps.kew.org/efloras/fz/intro.html ↩︎An excellent online flora of plants from the Zambezi River basin. It lists a number of the plant uses as well as the habitats and botanical descriptions of the plants.
- [6]Perennial Edible Fruits of the Tropics : an Inventory — Martin, F. W.; Campbell, C. W.; Rubertbe, R. M. · U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service · 1987 ↩︎A booklet giving terse details of almost 300 species of edible fruits, plus regional lists of Botanical and Common names for over 2,500 less well-known edible fruits of the tropics.
- [7]Cornucopia II — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications, California. · 1998 · ISBN 0-9628087-2-5 ↩︎The second edition of an excellent guide to the edible uses of plants, though it does not give any details of cultivation etc.