Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/471

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Myrsine.]
EPACRIDEÆ.
431
A. Petals united at the base (often very slightly in M. salicina).
Leaves 1½–2½ in. long, elliptic or obovate-oblong usually acute 1. M. kermadecensis.
Leaves 3–7 in. long, linear or linear-oblong 2. M. salicina.
B. Petals quite free.
Tree 10–20 ft. Leaves 1–2 in., oblong or obovate, rather thin, margins undulate. Fruit ⅛ in. diam. 3. M. Urvillei.
Tree 10–20 ft. Leaves 1–2½ in., obovate, coriaceous, margins flat. Fascicles many-flowered. Fruit ¼–⅓ in. diam. 4. M. chathamica.
Shrub 8–15 ft.; branches stout, pubescent. Leaves ½–¾ in., narrow-obovate, coriaceous. Flowers solitary or few together, almost sessile 5. M. Coxii.
Shrub 8–15 ft.; branches slender, glabrous. Leaves ¾–1¼ in., obovate, rather thin. Flowers in 2–5-flowered fascicles; pedicels slender, distinct 6. M. montana.
Shrub 4–12 ft.; branches spreading, tortuous and interlaced. Leaves ¼–½ in., broadly obovate or obcordate, retuse or 2-lobed 7. M. divaricata.
Trailing or prostrate shrub 4–18 in. long. Leaves small, ¼–⅓ in., broadly oblong or orbicular 8. M. nummularia

M. brachyclada, Colenso in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxii. (1890) 478, is a small state of Aristotelia fruticosa.


1. M. kermadecensis, Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxiv. (1892) 410.—A small glabrous tree 8–15 ft. high; bark rough, blackish-brown. Leaves 1½–2½ in. long, elliptic-oblong or obovate-oblong, acute or obtuse, narrowed into petioles ⅙–¼ in. long, entire, coriaceous, glandular-dotted, veins copiously reticulated, margins slightly recurved. Flowers in many-flowered fascicles on the old wood below the leaves, small, 1/101/8 in. diam., unisexual; pedicels short, ⅛–⅙ in. long. Calyx minute, 4–5-lobed; lobes short, broad. Corolla divided nearly to the base into 4 or 5 ovate acute lobes, which are fringed on the margins. Anthers nearly as large as the lobes. Female flowers not seen. Fruit globose, ¼–⅓ in. diam., black when fully ripe, 1-seeded.—Rapanea kermadecensis, Mez in Pflanzenreich, Heft 9, 371.

Kermadec Islands: Sunday Island, abundant throughout, T. F. C. Sea-level to 1500 ft. August.

This and the following are the only New Zealand species in which the petals cohere at the base.


2. M. salicina, Heward in Hook. Lond. Journ. Bot. i. (1842) 283, in note.—A small tree 15–30 ft. high, perfectly glabrous in all its parts; bark black or dark-red; branches usually leafy at the tips only. Leaves spreading, 3–7 in. long, ½–¾ in. broad, linear or linear-oblong, obtuse, narrowed into a short stout petiole, quire entire, marked with oblong pellucid glands, veined, margins flat. Flowers in dense many-flowered fascicles on the branches below