Plate 20. 
MYRTEOLA NUMMULARIA. 
Family, Myrtace^ : — Leaves opposite, evergreen. Flowers regular. 
Sepals 4 or 5. Petals separate, 4 or 5. Stamens indefinite. 
Eeceptacle more or less hollow. 
Genus, Myrteola : — Dwarf shrubs, rarely trees. Leaves opposite, 
I marked with dots, which are translucent glands. Flower stalks 
springing from the axils of the leaves, 1-many flowered. Calyx 
tube joined to, and only shortly produced beyond, the ovary. 
Stamens numerous. Ovary below the petals, sepals and stamens. 
Style slender. Stigma capitate. Fruit a berry. Seeds 1, 2 or 
numerous. 
Myrteola nummularia, [Poir.) Berg. A straggling, 
smooth, somewhat woody plant. Leaves tough, shining, ever- 
green, in. in length, rotund, leaf stalk short or absent. 
Flowers solitary, stalked, small and inconspicuous, yellowish- 
white. Petals twice as long as calyx lobes. Berry | in. long, 
red or delicate pink, white on under side, fleshy, edible, with a 
pleasant taste and smell. 
Heaths and bogs, spreading over the ground amongst 
other plants. Abundant. 
Flowers in December. 
East and West Falklands. 
The sealers who visited the Falkland Islands, and were 
the first settlers there, used the leaves of this plant as a 
substitute for tea. 
Description of plate : — 1, portion of plant in flower ; 2, flower ; 
3, section of flower ; 4, calyx and pistil ; 5 and 6, stamens ; 7, portion of 
plant in fruit ; 8, fruit ; 9, section of fruit ; 10, seed. All except 1 
and 7 enlarged. ^ 
