MACLOSKIE MYRTACE/E. 603 



white, with few stamens. Leaves subrotund, small, evergreen, shining. 

 Berries red, fleshy, edible. 



(S. Chili); Patagon., Fuegia; Staaten I.; Falklands. "On dunes, hav- 

 ing the habit of wild thyme. Common, spreading over the ground. It 

 forms peat, and its leaves are used as a surrogate, or substitute, for tea. 

 Malouine-tea." 



3. MYRTUS Linn. 



Leaves opposite, punctate, pinnately-veined. Peduncles axillary, i- 

 many-flowered. Ovary 2-3- rarely 4-celled ; ovules many. Fruit a berry, 

 enclosed in the adnate perigonial tube, mostly surmounted by the calyx- 

 limb. Seeds hippocrepiform. Radicle long ; cotyledons aborted. 



Species 50, in warm countries, chiefly southern, except S. Afr. and 

 Madagascar. 



i. M. LUMA Barn. 



A tree, with the young branches, petioles and peduncles pubescent. 

 Leaves elliptic-oblong or ovate-oblong, doubly attenuate, the midrib and 

 borders puberulous, pale on the under surface. Racemes axillary, 2-6- 

 flowered, as long as the leaves or longer. Peduncles 1-2 cm. Sepals 

 and petals 5 mm. long. Ovary bilocular. Berry shining, black, 

 globose. 



N. Patagon., in groves around Puerto Nuevo in Lago Nahuel-huapi. 



2. M. RELONCAVI Bern. 



Small tree, 3-4 meters high. Leaves thickish, more glaucous than in 

 Chilian species, glabrous on the two surfaces, the nerves slightly or not 

 projecting on the surface. 



Magellan, Otway. (Savatier.) 



3. M. VALDIVIANA Phil. 



Young branches puberulous. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, doubly attenu- 

 ate, acute, the nerves of the dried leaves prominent on the under surface, 

 which is scarcely paler than the upper surface. Leaf 'and petiole 2-3 cm. 

 long Flowers small, 3-5 in a raceme which scarcely exceeds in length 

 the leaf. Sepals and petals 5, the petals only 3-4 mm. long. Ovary 

 short. Berry black. 



(Chiloe) ; Patagon., in woods about Lago Nahuel-huapi. 



