46 VIOLARIEA). [Melicytus. 
2. MELICYTUS, Forst. 
Trees or shrubs. Leaves petiolate, alternate, toothed or serrate ; 
stipules minute. Flowers small, regular, dicecious, in little fascicles 
on the branches or axillary. Sepals 5, united at the base. Petals 5, 
short, spreading. Anthers 5, free, sessile ; connective produced 
above into a broad membrane furnished with a scale at the back. 
Ovary 1-celled, with 3-5 parietal placentas. Style 3-6-fid at the 
apex, or stigma nearly sessile, lobed. Fruit a berry, with few or 
several angled seeds. 
A small genus, limited to the four New Zealand species, one of which is 
also found in Norfolk Island and the Tongan Islands. 
Leaves oblong or oblong-lanceolate, serrate 34 .. 1. M. ramiflorus. 
Leaves large, obovate, coriaceous, sinuate-serrate .. 2. M. macrophyllus. 
Leaves long, linear-lanceolate, sharply and finely serrate 3. M. lanceolatus. 
Leaves small, orbicular-ovate, sinuate-toothed .. .. 4. M. micranthus. 
1. M. ramiflorus, Forst. Char. Gen. 124, t. 62.—A glabrous 
tree or large shrub 20-30 ft. high, with a trunk 1—2ft. in diam. ; 
bark white ; branches brittle. Leaves alternate, 2—5in. long, 
oblong-lanceolate, usually with a short acuminate point but some- 
times obtuse, bluntly and sometimes obscurely serrate, veins reticu- 
late; petioles short, slender; stipules deciduous. Flowers small, 
din. diam., greenish, dicecious, in axillary fascicles or on the 
branches below the leaves; pedicels slender, 4in. long, with 
2 minute bracts. Calyx-teeth 5, mimute. Petals obtuse, spreading. 
Male flowers with 5 obtuse sessile anthers, each with a concave 
scale at the back. Females with a short conical ovary, crowned 
with a 4-6-lobed stigma. Berry small, violet-blue, tin. diam. ; 
seeds few, black, angled.—A. Rich. Fl. Now. Zel. 3138; A. Cunn. 
Precur. n. 623; Raoul, Choix de Plantes, 48; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. 
i. 18; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 17; Kirk, Forest Fl.t.3; Students’ Fl. 42. 
KermMapDEc Istanps, NortH anp SoutH IstANnpDs, STEWART ISLAND: 
Abundant throughout, ascending to fully 3000ft. Mahoe. November— 
January. Also found in Norfolk Island and the Tongan Islands. 
The leaves and young branches are greedily eaten by cattle; the wood is 
white and soft, but has been employed for producing a special kind of charcoal 
used in making gunpowder. 
2. M. macrophyllus, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 624.—A tall slender 
sparingly branched shrub 8-15 ft. high; bark brownish. Leaves 
3-7 in. long, obovate or oblong, coarsely sinuate-serrate, acute or 
shortly acuminate, coriaceous; petioles short. Flowers twice as 
large as those of M. ramiflorus, tin. diam., greenish, in 4-10-flowered 
fascicles ; pedicels stout, decurved, 4 in. long, with 2 rounded bracts 
just below the flower. Male flowers: Calyx-lobes broad, obtuse. 
Petals more than twice as long as the calyx, spreading, strap- 
shaped, recurved at the tips. Anthers sessile, apiculate. Females: 
Calyx of the males. Petals shorter, more erect, barely half as long 
