Syzygium guineense
Myrtaceae
(Willd.) DC.
Syzygium guineense foliage (Joris de Wolf,
Patrick Van Damme, Diego Van
Meersschaut)
Syzygium guineense bark (Joris de Wolf,
Patrick Van Damme, Diego Van
Meersschaut)
LOCAL NAMES
Amharic (dokma); English (waterpear,waterboom,water berry,snake bean
tree,woodland waterberry,mountain waterberry,bi-coloured waterberry);
Luganda (kalunginsanvu,muziti); Ndebele (umdoni); Shona (mukute);
Swahili (mzambarau,msambaran,mzambarani,mzambarau
mwitu,mzuari,mzambarai); Tigrigna (liham)
BOTANIC DESCRIPTION
Syzygium guineense is a medium-sized or tall evergreen tree, 15-30 m
high. The bark varies in subspecies and is greyish-white or silver mottled
and smooth in young trees, turning rough, flaky, creamy, light grey, dark
brown or black in older trees. Bark scales in rectangular flakes and
produces red, watery sap if cut; slash is fibrous, even pale brown to dark
red-brown. Branchlets sometimes drooping. Crown rounded and heavy;
stems thick and angular. Bundles of fibrous aerial roots, about 2 m up the
bole, have been observed in Botswana.
Leaves narrow at both ends, length 5-17.5 cm, width 1.3-7.5 cm; simple,
opposite, elliptic, lanceolate or ovate-elliptic; with margins that are
untoothed and sometimes slightly wavy and rolled inward; apex obtuse to
acuminate and rounded, occasionally notched; base cuneate; stalk short
and grooved; midrib sunken on top, raised below, with many fine, lateral
veins; glabrous, grey-green, tough, shiny; fragrant when crushed.
Flowers (filaments) 1.5 cm in diameter, sessile or subsessile, fragrant,
creamy white; borne in terminal panicles forming heads up to 10 x 10 cm,
or with 4-8 widely spaced flowers in branched heads up to 3 cm in
diameter; calyx persistent with 4 petals; stamens numerous, about 6 mm
long. Petals fall early but the white stamens are showy, making a
conspicuous short brush or puff contrasting with the red or pink calyx tips.
Fruits ovoid or ellipsoid drupes, 1.2-3.5 cm x 1 x 2.5 cm, 2-3 celled, in
bunches of 20 to 30, whitish-green when immature, turning to shiny
purplish-black and juicy after ripening; 1-seeded. Seeds are 1.3-1.4 cm in
diameter, yellowish to brownish and rounded.
‘Syzygium’ is derived from the Greek ‘syzygios’ (‘paired’), on account of
the leaves and twigs that in several species grow at the same point. The
specific name means ‘of Guinea’, where the tree was first collected. The
common name ‘water pear’ refers to its preference for stream banks and
to its wood, supposedly like that of a pear.
BIOLOGY
S. guineense is able to interbreed with other species in the genus.
Pollination agents are insects. Where there are 2 rainy seasons, the
species flowers twice: during the short dry season and towards the end of
the long rains. In areas with 1 rainy season, the species flowers once,
starting towards the end of the dry season and extending into the rainy
season.
Syzygium guineense slash (Joris de Wolf,
Patrick Van Damme, Diego Van
Meersschaut)
Page 1 of 5
Agroforestry Database 4.0 (Orwa et al.2009)
Syzygium guineense
Myrtaceae
(Willd.) DC.
ECOLOGY
S. guineense usually occurs in lowland rain forests, mountain rain forests, fringing riverian swampy forests and open
Brachystegia - Faurea woodland. It usually grows in moist conditions, sometimes even in water, and is usually found
along streams and wadis and on rocky ground in high rainfall savannah.
BIOPHYSICAL LIMITS
Altitude: 0-2 100 m, Mean annual temperature: 10-30 deg. C, Mean annual rainfall: 1 000-2 300 mm
Soil type: S. guineense prefers fresh, moist, well-drained soils with a high water table but will also grow in open
woodlands.
DOCUMENTED SPECIES DISTRIBUTION
The map above shows countries where the species has been planted. It does neither
suggest that the species can be planted in every ecological zone within that country,
nor that the species can not be planted in other countries than those depicted. Since
some tree species are invasive, you need to follow biosafety procedures that apply to
your planting site.
Exotic range
Native range
Botswana, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal, Somalia, South
Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Native:
Exotic:
Page 2 of 5
Agroforestry Database 4.0 (Orwa et al.2009)
Syzygium guineense
Myrtaceae
(Willd.) DC.
The map above shows countries where the species has been planted. It does neither
suggest that the species can be planted in every ecological zone within that country,
nor that the species can not be planted in other countries than those depicted. Since
some tree species are invasive, you need to follow biosafety procedures that apply to
your planting site.
PRODUCTS
Food: The ripe, pleasant-flavoured fruits of S. guineense are gathered and eaten.
Apiculture: Flowers provide good bee forage.
Timber: Syzgium guineense provides reddish-brown, hard, strong, durable wood, that is easy to work and is suitable for
poles, posts and for building and bridge construction.
Medicine: Fruit is used as a remedy for dysentery, while a decoction of the bark is used as an antidiarrhoeic. In
traditional medicine, liquid from the pounded bark and roots, mixed with water, is used as a purgative.
Poison: The poisonous bark has been reported to cause human deaths.
Fuel: S. guineense is used as firewood and in the production of charcoal.
Other products: Smoke from the burning wood is used to season milk containers.
SERVICES
Shade or shelter: The handsome evergreen tree is preserved in gardens for its deep shade.
Page 3 of 5
Agroforestry Database 4.0 (Orwa et al.2009)
Syzygium guineense
Myrtaceae
(Willd.) DC.
TREE MANAGEMENT
S. guineense is planted on cleared sites, tolerates pollarding and is able to coppice. The species is sensitive to crown
competition and is a strong light demander, thus it could be necessary to refine the crop in natural forests to distribute
growth potential to trees.
GERMPLASM MANAGEMENT
Seed storage behaviour is recalcitrant with seeds being spoiled in less than 24 hours of storage. On average, there are
2 400 to 3 700 seeds/kg.
PESTS AND DISEASES
S. guineense is liable to attack by a cerambicid beetle larva, which makes the timber defective. Inflorescence is
frequently attacked by insects, in which case flowers do not develop and a spherical greenish-yellow head, 7.6-10.2 cm
in diameter, is formed instead of the normal panicle. Vervet monkeys eat buds and flowers.
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Agroforestry Database 4.0 (Orwa et al.2009)
Syzygium guineense
Myrtaceae
(Willd.) DC.
Orwa C, A Mutua, Kindt R , Jamnadass R, S Anthony. 2009 Agroforestree Database:a tree reference and selection guide
version 4.0 (http://www.worldagroforestry.org/sites/treedbs/treedatabases.asp)
SUGGESTED CITATION
FURTHER READNG
Albrecht J. ed. 1993. Tree seed hand book of Kenya. GTZ Forestry Seed Center Muguga, Nairobi, Kenya.
Beentje HJ. 1994. Kenya trees, shrubs and lianas. National Museums of Kenya.
Bein E. 1996. Useful trees and shrubs in Eritrea. Regional Soil Conservation Unit (RSCU), Nairobi, Kenya.
Bekele-Tesemma A, Birnie A, Tengnas B. 1993. Useful trees and shrubs for Ethiopia. Regional Soil Conservation Unit
(RSCU), Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA).
Coates-Palgrave K. 1988. Trees of southern Africa. C.S. Struik Publishers Cape Town.
Dale IR, Greenway PJ. 1961. Kenya trees and shrubs. Buchanan’s Kenya Estates Ltd.
Drummond BR. 1981. Common trees of the Central Watershed Woodlands of Zimbabwe. National Resources Board.
Eggeling. 1940. Indigenous trees of Uganda. Govt. of Uganda.
FAO. 1983. Food and fruit bearing forest species. 1: Examples from Eastern Africa. FAO Forestry Paper. 44/1. Rome.
Hamilton A.C. 1981. A field guide to Uganda forest trees.
Hines DA, Eckman K. 1993. Indigenous multipurpose trees for Tanzania: uses and economic benefits to the people.
Cultural survival Canada and Development Services Foundation of Tanzania.
Hong TD, Linington S, Ellis RH. 1996. Seed storage behaviour: a compendium. Handbooks for Genebanks: No. 4.
IPGRI.
ICRAF. 1992. A selection of useful trees and shrubs for Kenya: Notes on their identification, propagation and
management for use by farming and pastoral communities. ICRAF.
Katende AB et al. 1995. Useful trees and shrubs for Uganda. Identification, Propagation and Management for
Agricultural and Pastoral Communities. Regional Soil Conservation Unit (RSCU), Swedish International Development
Authority (SIDA).
Mbuya LP et al. 1994. Useful trees and shrubs for Tanzania: Identification, Propagation and Management for
Agricultural and Pastoral Communities. Regional Soil Conservation Unit (RSCU), Swedish International Development
Authority (SIDA).
Noad T, Birnie A. 1989. Trees of Kenya. General Printers, Nairobi.
Palmer E, Pitman N. 1972. Trees of Southern Africa Vol. 2. A.A. BalKema Cape Town.
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