Syzygium australe brush cherry

Several Syzygium australe (about seven pictured) in the Outer Quad, behind Buildings 100 and 110. Sairus Patel, 24 May 2021

Shaped Syzygium australe, Outer Quad. John Rawlings, c 2006

An erect narrow tree thickly clothed with glossy opposite leaves about 2 inches long with a good reddish color at first. The white flowers have petals but, as with other members of the family, such as Eucalyptus and Tristania, their main effect depends on the stamens. However, the fruit is quite different being a fleshy red “cherry,” which is perhaps thirst quenching but has no particular flavor. Large specimens can be seen on the right side of the entrance to Bechtel International Center and in the northwest courtyard of the Outer Quad, especially on the end closest to Memorial Court. Several are trimmed into tall hedges against the southern side of Building 120. Two immense ones, each about 2 feet in diameter, are at 619 Mayfield Avenue. The lillypilly (S. smithii) is a related plant with pale-colored fruit from a similar rainforest environment and has pleasant crunchy flesh (but not much). Campus’s sole specimen is tucked among the brush cherries just north of Building 110.

Syzygium australe is often erroneously sold as and mistaken for S. paniculatum, a rare species also from eastern Australia and only occasionally found in California.

Syzygy, the only word in the dictionary with three y’s and no other vowels, describes an astronomical situation of three celestial bodies in alignment, as occurs at the time of an eclipse. The language of botany presumably refers to the Greek meaning “yoked together.” But what are yoked together?

Name derivation: Syzygium – Greek, yoked together; australe – southern.