Syzygium guineense subsp. guineense ageing bark

The bark on this thick Syzygium guineense subsp. guineense tree growing in Fernkloof is only slightly rough in parts with many and large smooth places present. There is more grey than brown to see here, some of it pale, shading or changing into near white patches. Branches of  this Syzygium are usually whitish or silvery white to grey-brown, while the young twigs are four-angled, smooth and purplish.

Old trees in the natural habitat tend to have darker, rougher bark or at least in parts, with more cracking into patches occurring while outer bark patches drop off in places. The tree in picture may have grown thick but still lacks some old tree characteristics. Maybe Hermanus also treats it differently than the Lowveld does its residents of the subspecies.

Some of these trees grow straight, while others have crooked stems. Trunks become about 60 cm in diameter. Stem thickening may cause cracking open of the outer layer of the bark, exposing underbark that adapts to looking similar, while the ridges around the patches are rough and dark spots develop, also some flaking. Fluting increases as the old tree deviates from the cylindrical while getting thick.

The wood of this tree is reddish brown and hard, also strong and durable.

The bark features in traditional medicine (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Schmidt, et al, 2002; Van Wyk and Van Wyk, 1997; Pooley, 1993; iNaturalist).