168 MYRTACES. [ Metrosideros. 
NortH anp SourH Isuanps: Abundant in forests from the Three Kings 
Islands and North Cape to Marlborough and Nelson. Sea-level to 2000 ft. 
Aka. January—March. 
I have seen no specimens from further south than Marlborough, but it has 
been recorded from Banks Peninsula and the Auckland Islands, I believe erro- 
neously. Mr. Colenso’s M. tenwifolia, as proved by the type specimens in his 
herbarium, is based upon the young plant, which has slender glabrous stems 
and almost membranous leaves. His M. vesiculata is a state in which the 
glands on the undersurface of the leaves and calyces are more conspicuous than 
usual. 
3. MYRTUS, Linn. 
Shrubs or rarely trees, glabrous or pubescent or tomentose. 
Leaves opposite, often coriaceous, pellucid-dotted. Flowers axil- 
lary, solitary or in few-flowered cymes. Calyx-tube subglobose or 
turbinate; lobes 4-5, usually persistent. Petals 4-5, spreading. 
Stamens very numerous, in many series, free, longer than the 
petals. Ovary inferior, completely or imperfectly 2-3-celled ; 
ovules numerous in each cell. Fruit a globose or ovoid berry, 
crowned with the persistent calyx-limb. Seeds few or many, reni- 
form or almost globose; testa crustaceous or bony. Embryo 
terete, curved or annular; cotyledons small; radicle long. 
Species about 100, most of them natives of South America, a few extending 
to Mexico and the West Indies. There are also 9 or 10 Australian species, and 
1 (the common myrtle) widely spread over southern Europe and western Asia. 
The 4 New Zealand species are all endemic. 
Leaves 1—-21n. long, tumid between the veins .. -. 1. M. bullata. 
Leaves 3-1 in. long, flat an te a 2. M. Ralphii. 
Leaves +-4 in., obcordate. Calyx 4-lobed = .. 3. M. obcordata. 
Leaves +-4in., obovate. Calyx 5-lobed.. ae .. 4. M. pedunculata. 
1. M. bullata, Sol. ex A. Cunn. Precur. n. 565.—An erect shrub, 
usually from 10 to 15 ft., but sometimes taller and becoming a 
small tree 20-25 ft. high; branchlets and young leaves tomentose. 
Leaves 1-2 in. long, reddish-brown, shortly petioled, broadly ovate or 
orbicular-ovate, obtuse or acute or apiculate, coriaceous, the surface 
tumid or blistered between the veins. Flowers axillary, solitary, 
%in. diam., white. Peduncles longer or shorter than the leaves, 
tomentose. Calyx 2-bracteolate at the base; lobes 4, obtuse or 
subacute. Petals orbicular, white. Berry 4in. long, broadly ovoid, 
dark-red, becoming almost black when fully ripe, 2-celled Seeds 
numerous, in 2 series in each cell, reniform; testa bony.—Hook. Ic. 
Plant. t. 557 ; Bot. Mag. t. 4809; Raoul, Choix, 49; Hook. f. #1. 
Nov..Zel. 1. 70; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 14; Kirk, Forest Fl. %. 131; 
Students’ Fl. 164. 
NorrH IsLanD: Common in woods from the North Cape to Cook Strait. 
Sour IstanpD: Various localities in Marlborough and Nelson, rare. Ascends 
to 2000 ft. Ramarama. December—January. 
Easily distinguished by the tumid or blistered surface of the leaves, and by 
the calyx and petals being covered with minute warts. The peduncles are some- 
times 2-flowered. 
