202 
Card. Bull. Singapore 69(2) 2017 
the genus with the largest number of tree species, about 1069 species in all (Beech et 
al., 2017). Syzygium diversity in New Guinea is expected to be extremely rich, with 
species occurring from the lowlands to the highlands (Craven, 2006), but identification 
of Syzygium species has always been difficult due to a lack of good morphological 
diagnostic characters, resulting in an accumulation of unidentified materials in many 
herbaria (Hartley & Perry, 1973; Craven, 2006; Craven & Biffin, 2010). 
Among the earliest botanists to examine New Guinean Syzygium was Carl 
Lauterbach (Van Steenis-Kruseman, 1950). He described many new species, including 
some under segregate genera that are now considered synonyms of Syzygium , such as 
Aphanomyrtus Miq. and Jambosa Adans. (Lauterbach, 1910, 1912). Later, Friedrich 
Diels (see Van Steenis-Kruseman, 1950) described many more Syzygium species for 
New Guinea, some of them under Jambosa (Diels, 1922; Diels et al., 1929). Merrill & 
Perry (1939a, 1942a, 1942b) meticulously examined the enormous volume of material 
of New Guinean Syzygium gathered during the Archbold Expeditions. It was Merrill 
& Perry (1939b), in a treatment of Syzygium in Borneo, who synonymised Jambosa , 
and also a few other segregate genera in the Syzygium alliance, under Syzygium. Later, 
Hartley & Perry (1973) attempted to revise the by-then much larger Syzygium diversity 
of Papuasia. They recognised 138 species and also listed 69 species of unknown 
status or which were to be excluded from Papuasia, citing lack of materials for close 
examination while preparing the account. A recent enumeration in the World Checklist 
of Myrtaceae recorded 195 species of Syzygium for New Guinea (Govaerts et al., 
2017). 
In 1993, while assisting Freeport to establish a plant nursery at Timika under 
the Incubator Project, the first author stumbled upon several attractive juvenile plants 
of an unidentified Syzygium species with exceptionally long pendulous leaves in the 
forested area of Kuala Kencana. Ten years later, the first author visited Timika again 
and this provided an opportunity to procure seeds and seedlings of the peculiar Kuala 
Kencana Syzygium species for cultivation. From these materials, one of the plants was 
successfully established and is growing vigorously in the garden of Mr Tan Jiew Hoe 
in Singapore. The tree in Singapore eventually produced flowers and fruits, providing 
us with sufficient materials to examine for this study. The unidentified Kuala Kencana 
Syzygium is closely related to Syzygium recurvovenosum (Lauterb.) Diels but is distinct 
based on the suite of morphological characters listed in Table 1. It is concluded that 
the attractive Kuala Kencana Syzygium is an undescribed novelty from Western New 
Guinea and is named here as Syzygium jiewhoei Hambali, Sunarti & Y.W.Low. 
Material and methods 
A review of all New Guinean Syzygium species was conducted, based on herbarium 
specimens preserved in BO, K and SING (herbarium acronyms follow Thiers, 2017, 
continuously updated). Conventional methods employed in herbarium taxonomy were 
applied in this study. All measurements were taken from dried herbarium specimens. 
Photographic documentation is of the living specimen growing in Mr Tan Jiew Hoe’s 
