Symplocos paniculata Miq.

Sapphire-berry (en)

Species

Angiosperms > Ericales > Symplocaceae > Symplocos

Characteristics

Shrubs or trees, deciduous, 1-10 m. Bark gray on ridges and dark in fissures. Branches spreading; branchlets gray or brown, often purplish. Winter buds 0.5-3 mm; scales orbiculate, proximally glabrous, distally sericeous. Leaves: petiole 3-9 mm; blade ovate to obovate, usually slightly rhombic, 3.8-8.9 × 1.9-5.2 cm, membranous to chartaceous, base broadly cuneate to rounded or subcordate, margins closely serrate, serrulate, or dentate, surfaces abaxially light green, glabrous or pubescent, adaxially dark green, glabrous or pubescent, midvein impressed adaxially. Inflorescences usually internodal panicles, usually from branchlets of current year, sometimes from leaf axils of previous year, 4-20-flowered, often reduced proximally along branchlet to 2-5-flowered inflorescences or solitary flowers. Flowers not enclosed in bud by scales, appearing with leaves; corolla white [yellow], lobes 2.5-5 mm; anthers yellow; ovary incompletely 2-locular; ovules 4 per carpel; disc glabrous or hairy; style 2-4 mm. Drupes bright blue to bluish black, ovoid or globose, 3-8 mm, glabrous or hairy. Seeds reniform. 2n = 22.
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Shrubs or small trees, deciduous. Young branchlets glabrous or ± pilose; old branchlets glabrous. Petiole 3--7 mm; leaf blade ovate, elliptic-obovate, or broadly obovate, usually slightly rhomboid, 1.5--11 X 1--5.5 cm, membranous to thinly papery, abaxially glabrous or pubescent, adaxially glabrous or appressed hairy, base broadly cuneate to subcordate, margin sharply glandular dentate, apex acuminate to acute, lateral veins 4--10 pairs. Panicles terminal, consisting of a raceme of cymose corymbs, 2--10 cm; bracts early deciduous, usually linear, ca. 1(--3) mm, brown glandular. Pedicel 0--10 mm, slender, thickening in fruit, articulate at apex. Ovary obconic, 1--1.5 mm, glabrous or hairy, 2-locular, with 4 ovules per locule. Calyx lobes light yellow, ovate to semi-orbicular, 1--1.5 mm, sometimes abaxially hairy, margin ciliate. Corolla 3--6 mm. Stamens 25--60. Disc 5-glandular, glabrous or hairy. Drupes bluish, rarely white, ovate-globose, 3--8 mm. Fl. Apr-Jun, fr. Sep-Nov.
A shrub which loses its leaves. It grows 4.5 m high and spreads 4.5 m wide. The leaves are oval and slightly hairy. The leaves are small and have very fine teeth. The flowers are white and have a scent. They occur in clusters. The fruit are round blue berries.
Life form perennial
Growth form shrub
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) 4.0
Mature height (meter) 4.0
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Fruit color
Fruiting months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway -

Environment

It grows in warm temperate zones. It grows in the Himalayas from 1,000-2,600 m altitude. It suits hardiness zones 7-9. In Sichuan and Yunnan.
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Forests and shrubberies; at elevations from 1,000-2,700 metres. Slopes in mixed forests; at elevations from 800-2,500 metres.
Light 6-9
Soil humidity 3-6
Soil texture 1-6
Soil acidity 1-4
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 5-8

Usage

The small berries are used in jams, jellies and sauce.
Uses dye eating material medicinal rootstock seasoning wood
Edible fruits seeds
Therapeutic use Antioxytoxic (unspecified), Tonic (unspecified), Amebiasis (unspecified), Ophthalmia (unspecified), Tea (unspecified)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Can be grown by cuttings or seedlings. Seeds needs stratification.
Mode cuttings seedlings
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) 21
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment stratification
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Symplocos paniculata unspecified picture

Distribution

Symplocos paniculata world distribution map, present in China, Pakistan, and United States of America

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:827233-1
WFO ID wfo-0000989948
COL ID 53RXZ
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR) Link

Synonyms

Symplocos pallida Symplocos paniculata Prunus paniculata Prunus mairei Palura sinica Palura chinensis Symplocos sinica Symplocos hunanensis Symplocos chinensis Symplocos simaoensis Palura paniculata Palura chinensis var. pilosa Symplocos sinica var. vestita