Syzygium sahyadricum (Myrtaceae), a new tree species from India, and notes on the distribution of S. spathulatum Thwaites

A new species of the tree genus Syzygium (Myrtaceae), S. sahyadricum is described and illustrated from the Montane Shola forests of Anamalai and Palni Phytogeographical region of Western Ghats. Although phenotypically closely similar to S. spathulatum and S. malabaricum, the new species is easily recognizable by the pale yellow coloured tender leaves with horizontal secondary nerves and white flowers in reduced metabotryoid, pedunculate inflorescence, which are flattened towards the apex. Scanning the Syzygium collections in various herbaria revealed that similar specimens from various localities of this phyto-region are available and most of them with erroneous ascriptions. The report of S. spathulatum Thwaites, a Sri Lankan endemic species in India, was due to misinterpretation of Beddome's collection. In this paper taxonomic peculiarities of the new species and allied taxa are discussed for better understanding.