All species are woody evergreentrees and shrubs. Several are grown as ornamental plants for their attractive glossy foliage, and a few produce edible fruit that are eaten fresh or used in jams and jellies.
Many species new to science have been and are in the process of being described from these regions. For example, 37 new species of Eugenia have been described from Mesoamerica in the past few years.[when?] At least 20 new species are currently[when?] being described from New Caledonia, and approximately the same number of species new to science may occur in Madagascar.[citation needed] Despite the enormous ecological importance of the myrtle family in Australia (e.g. Eucalyptus, Corymbia, Angophora, Melaleuca, Callistemon, Rhodamnia, Gossia), only one species of Eugenia, E. reinwardtiana, occurs on that continent. The genus also is represented in Africa south of the Sahara, but it is relatively species-poor on that continent. In the past some botanists[which?] included the morphologically similar Old World genus Syzygium in Eugenia, but research by Rudolf Schmid in the early 1970s convinced most botanists that the genera are easily separable. Research by van Wyk and colleagues in South Africa suggests the genus may comprise at least two major lineages, recognizable by anatomical and other features.[citation needed]
Molecular phylogenetic studies have changed the historical circumscription of the genus. Many species formerly placed in Eugenia have been moved to Syzygium.[5] Two others have been reassigned to Pimenta.[6] The Caribbean genera Hottea, Calyptrogenia and Pseudanamomis were shown to be embedded in Eugenia.[7] The monotypic Indian genus Meteoromyrtus was also found to be part of Eugenia.[8]
^Flickinger, Jonathan A.; Jestrow, Brett; Oviedo Prieto, Ramona; Santiago-Valentín, Eugenio; Sustache-Sustache, José; Jiménez-Rodríguez, Francisco; Campbell, Keron C. St. E. & Francisco-Ortega, Javier (2020). "A phylogenetic survey of Myrtaceae in the Greater Antilles with nomenclatural changes for some endemic species". Taxon. 69 (3): 448–480. doi:10.1002/tax.12263. S2CID225866702.
