XXVIII. MYRTACE.E. 
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Order XXVIII. MYRTACE^J. 
Shrubs or trees, sometimes subscandent. Leaves opposite or alternate, 
exstipulate, quite entire, furnished with pellucid glands full of volatile, fragrant 
oil. Flowers hermaphrodite, regular, solitary or in axillary or terminal racemes 
or cymose panicles, often showy. — Calyx-tube adnate with the ovary, ovoid 
oblong or obconic, sometimes produced beyond the ovary, limb 4- or 5-cleft, 
deciduous or persistent. Petals 4 or 5, orbicular, concave, sessile, imbricate. 
Stamens very numerous in the New Zealand genera, filaments short or long, 
incurved in bud ; anthers small, didymous. Ovary inferior, usually 4-5- 
celled ; style slender or short, simple, stigma simple or capitate ; ovules 
numerous, on projecting placentas. Fruit dry or succulent, indehiscent or 
capsular, 1- or more celled, 1- or more seeded. Seeds very various, exalbu- 
minous ; embryo straight or curved. 
A very large Order, especially in the tropics, rare in the north temperate zone, represented 
in Europe by the Myrtle alone, but common in the south temperate zone, where one species 
advauces to Cape Horn, and another to Campbell’s Island. 
Leaves alternate. Flowers solitary or fascicled 1. Leptospermum. 
Leaves opposite. 
Flowers cymose or racemed. Capsule many-seeded. Seeds linear . 2. Metrosideros. 
Flowers usually solitary. Berry many- or few-seeded. Seeds with 
bony testa 3. Mybtus. 
Flowers cymose. Berry 1- or few-seeded. Seeds large, angular . 4. Eugenia. 
1. LEPTOSPERMUM, Foist. 
Shrubs or trees. Leaves alternate, small, evergreen, coriaceous. Flowers 
solitary or fascicled, shortly peduncled, white or pink. — Calyx-tube turbinate, 
lobes 5, often persistent, valvate. Petals 5, rounded, concave. Stamens 
numerous, filaments short. Ovary 4- or 5-celled ; style straight ; ovules very 
numerous. Capsule coriaceous or woody, broadly hemispherical, bursting 
within the calyx-border by 4 or 5 valves. Seeds very numerous, small, linear, 
pendulous from the inner upper angle of the cell ; testa membranous. 
A very large subtropical and temperate Australian genus, extending northwards to the 
Malayan islands. 
Leaves pungent. Flowers solitary, sessile. Calyx-lobes deciduous . . 1. L. scoparium. 
Leaves not pungent. Flowers fascicled, peduncled. Calyx-lobes per- 
sistent 2. L. ericoides. 
1 . L. scoparium, Foi’st. ; — FI. N. Z. i. 70. A large bush or small tree ; 
trunk erect ; branches fastigiate, prostrate in alpine localities ; young branches 
and leaves silky. Leaves very variable, f- in. long, sessile, from linear- 
lanceolate to orbicular, acuminate, rigid, pungent, concave, veinless, dotted, 
patent or recurved. Flowers sessile, solitary, axillary or terminal, i-f in. 
diam. Calyx-tube broadly turbinate, lobes orbicular, deciduous. Petals or- 
bicular, clawed, crumpled. Capsule woody, turbinate, half sunk in the 
calyx-tube; the free portion 5-valved. 
Var. a. FI. N. Z. 1. c. Erect, leaves lanceolate. 
Var. j8. Un folium, l.c. Erect, leaves narrow, linear-lanceolate. 
Far. y. myrtifolium, 1. c. Erect, leaves ovate, spreading or recurved. 
