Melicytus .] 
IV. VIOLARIEiE. 
17 
2. MELICYTUS, Forst. 
Shrubs, with short-petioled, toothed, minute-stipuled leaves. Flowers 
axillary, fascicled, small, regular, almost unisexual or polygamous. Sepals 5. 
Petals 5, short, spathulate, spreading. Anthers 5, free ; connective produced 
into a membrane, and furnished with a scale at the back. Style 3-6-fid, or 
with a discoid stigma. Berry with few or many angled seeds, on 3 to 6 pla- 
centas. 
This genus is confined to New Zealand and Norfolk Island. 
leaves oblong or oblong-lanceolate, serrate 1 . M. ramiflorus. 
Leaves large, obovate, sinuate-serrate 2. M.macrophyllus. 
Leaves long, linear-lanceolate, sharply serrate 3. M. lanceolatus. 
Leaves small, orbicular-ovate, sinuate 4 . M. micranthus. 
1. M. ramiflorus, Ford. ; — FI. N. Z. i. 18. A glabrous, white-barked, 
small tree or large shrub, 20-30 ft. high; trunk often angular, and 7 ft. in 
girth ( Buchanan ) ; branches brittle. Leaves alternate, 4-5 in. long, oblong- 
lanceolate, acuminate, serrate with small obtuse teeth, sometimes obscurely 
so; petioles slender; stipules deciduous. Flowers small, in fascicles on the 
branches ; peduncles slender, | in. long, with 2 minute bracts. Flowers 
minute, in. diam. Calyx-lobes obtuse, spreading, green. Anthers obtuse ; 
stigma almost sessile, 6-lobed. Berry small, i in. diam. 
Abundant throughout the islands, as far south as Otago, Banks and Solander , etc. Leaves 
eaten greedily by cattle; wood soft, useless ( Buchanan ). Also found in Norfolk Island. 
2. M. macrophyllus, A. Cunn. ; — FI. N. Z. i. 19. A large glabrous 
bush, 4-7 ft. high ; bark pale-brown. Leaves 3-4 in. long, obovate or ellip- 
tical-oblong, acute, coarsely and distantly (rarely closely) sinuate-serrate, 
more coriaceous and broader than in M. ramiflorus ; stipules deciduous. 
Flowers twice as large as in the former, in fascicles of 4 or 6 on the branches ; 
peduncles stout, | in. long, much decurved, with small, broad, opposite 
bracts close to the flower. Calyx-lobes short, broad, rounded. Anthers 
apiculate. Stigma broad, nearly sessile, discoid, lobed. Berries £ in. diam. 
Northern Island : about the Bay of Islands only, so far as is hitherto known, A. Cun- 
ningham, etc. Easily distinguished from M. ramijlorus by the coarser habit, broader, more 
obovate, coriaceous leaves, fewer stout, decurved pedicels, with bracts at the apex, and 
larger flowers and berries. 
3. M. lanceolatus, Hook. f. FI. N. Z. i. 18. t. 8. A slender shrub 
or small tree, 10-12 ft. high ; branches brittle ; bark dark-brown. Leaves 
4-7 in. long, narrow linear-lanceolate, acuminate, sharply erose-dentate, ra- 
ther membranous. Flowers small, 2 or 3 together ; pedicels short, decurved, 
bracteate above the middle. Calyx-lobes oblong. Petals erect, with spread- 
ing limb. Connective produced into a subulate point. Style long, 3-fid. 
Berry oblong, ~ in. diam. 
Northern Island : forests at Patea on the east coast, Colenso. 
4. M. micranthus. Hook. f. FI. N. Z. i. 18. A small, rigid shrub; 
branches tortuous, covered with grey or brown bark, the youngest pubescent 
at the tips. Leaves small and scattered, •§— ■ £ in. long, orbicular-obovate, 
obtusely sinuate, the youngest often obovate-oblong and pinnatilobed ; petioles 
very short, puberulous. Flowers unisexual, very minute, axillary ; pedicels 
VOL. I. C 
