Rhodomyrtus.] 
LI. MYRTACEj®. 
647 
4. R. macrocarpa (long-fruited), Benth. FI. Amtr. iii. 273. Cooktown 
Loquat. A tall shrub, the young branches and inflorescence hoary with a close 
tomentum. Leaves petiolate, oval- elliptical or obovate, obtuse or shortly acumi- 
nate, often 6 to lOin. long, penniveined and reticulate, glabrous or minutely 
pubescent underneath. Peduncles in the upper axils short, bearing either 1 or 3 
flowers, or a short compact leafy raceme. Calyx-tube cylindrical ; lobes 5, 
unequal. Petals tardily expanding. Style large, peltate. Ovules usually super- 
posed in 2 rows on a parietal placenta protruding between the rows (the ovary 
reduced to a single cell). Fruit cylindrical, f to ljin. long, often torulose when 
dry. Seeds large, superposed usually in a single row, or very rarely the two rows 
perfect, and separated by firm partitions, the fruit then shorter and broader. 
Hab.: Common in the tropical scrubs. 
The fruit is sometimes infested with a fungus blight, Glceosporium periculosum, which has been 
supposed to cause blindness and death to those who have eaten freely of the diseased fruit. 
Wood of a light-grey colour, hard, and tough. — Bailey’s Cat. Ql. I Foods No. 216. 
25. MYRTUS, Linn. 
(Supposed from myron, signifying perfume.) 
Calyx-tube turbinate, scarcely or not at all produced above the ovary ; lobes 4 
or 5, small, usually persistent. Petals 4 or 5, spreading. Stamens numerous, in 
several series, free ; filaments filiform ; anthers versatile, or attached near the 
base, with parallel cells opening longitudinally. Ovary completely 2 or 3-celled, 
or imperfectly so, the dissepiments not quite reaching to the summit, with several 
ovules in each cell attached without order, or in 2 rows to an axile placenta either 
scarcely prominent or divided into 2 lamella ; style filiform, with a small or rarely 
capitate stigma. Fruit a berry, globular or rarely ovoid, with few or rather 
numerous seeds not distinctly superposed in rows. Seeds more or less reniform, 
or almost circular, the testa hard or crustaceous, rarely membranous ; embryo 
curved, horseshoe-shaped, circular or spirally involute, with a long radicle ; coty- 
ledons very small, or rarely larger and folded. — Shrubs or rarely trees, glabrous or 
rarely pubescent or silky. Leaves opposite, penniveined. Peduncles axillary, 
usually slender, 1-flowered or with several flowers in a centrifugal cyme, assuming, 
in the Australian several-flowered species, the form of a 5 or 7-flowered raceme, 
with a terminal flower sessile or on a shorter pedicel than the others. Bracteoles 
small and usually deciduous. 
The genus is rather numerous in extratropical S. America and the Andes, extending more 
sparingly to other parts of S. America, to Mexico, and the W. Indies. There are also several New 
Zealand species, and one widely spread over S. Europe and W. Asia, besides the Australian ones, 
which are all endemic. There is no positive character to separate it from Eugenia, except the 
embryo, and the 1-flowered species of the two genera are not very dissimilar in foliage. Gener- 
ally speaking, however, the Myrtles have smaller leaves, a more simple inflorescence, and more 
generally 5-merous flowers than the Eugenias of the Old World. — Benth. 
Peduncles axillary, solitary, slender, 1-flowered. 
Calyx-limb shortly and broadly sinuate-lobed. Ovary 3-celled ... 1 . M. rhytisperma. 
Calyx-limb divided to the base into 5 lobes. 
Leaves linear or lanceolate, hoary underneath. Ovary 2-celled . . 2. M tenuifolia. 
Leaves ovate or ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, glabrous. 
Branchlets angular. Calyx slightly pubescent. Ovary 2-celled . 3. M. gonoclada. 
Branchlets hoary. Calyx hoary-pubescent, 1 line or less long, 
semirotund. Fruit 3-celled 4. M. lasioclada. 
Branchlets terete. Calyx hoary-pubescent. Ovary 2-celled, with 
many ovules 5. ill. Hillii. 
Branchlets terete. Calyx glabrous. Ovary 3-celled, with few 
ovules in each cell 6 . M. Becklerii. 
Peduncles clustered in each axil, or bearing 3 or more flowers. Ovary 
2-celled. 
Calyx 5-lobed, glabrous. 
Leaves very shining, usually acuminate. Flowers numerous. 
Pedicels usually in pairs in the racemes. Ovules few ... 7. M. Bidwillii, 
Part II. Y 
