Syzygium buxifolium Hook. & Arn.

Shrubs or small trees. Branchlets blackish brown when dry, 4- or 6-angled. Leaves opposite or ternate; petiole ca. 2 mm; leaf blade broadly elliptic, elliptic, orbicular, obovate, or broadly obovate, 1-3 × 0.5-2(-2.2) cm, leathery, abaxially slightly pale when dry, adaxially dark brown and not glossy when dry, abaxially glandular, secondary veins numerous, 1-1.5 mm apart, abaxially slightly raised, and adaxially inconspicuous or depressed, intramarginal veins 1-1.5 mm from margin and depressed or not, base broadly cuneate, cuneate, or obtuse, apex rounded, obtuse, or acute and sometimes with an obtuse cusp. Inflorescences terminal, cymes, ca. 1 cm, several-flowered. Flower buds ca. 3 mm. Hypanthium obconic, ca. 2 mm. Calyx lobes shallow wavy. Petals 4, white, distinct, ca. 2 mm. Stamens ca. 2.5 mm. Style as long as stamens. Fruit red turning purplish black, globose, 5-7 mm in diam. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Oct-Dec.

Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Zhejiang [S Japan, Vietnam].

Sparse forests or scrub in mountains, hills; 200-1200 m.

Syzygium buxifolium, the boxleaf eugenia or fish-scale bush, is a species of flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae, native to northern Vietnam, southern China, Hainan, Taiwan, the Ryukyu Islands, and southern Kyushu, Japan. A shrub or small tree, it is suitable for hedges, containers, and bonsai. It is used as a street tree in a number of southern Chinese cities.

Close-up of leaf with human thumbnail for scale