MYRTUS PEDUNCULATA, Hook. 
THE ROHUTU. 
OrderR—MYRTACE. 
(Plate CXII.) 
Tris species bears the same Native name as Myrtus obcordata (P1..LXX.), 
although casily distinguished from that species. It has the widest distribution 
of all the New Zealand myrtles, and is generally known: a well-grown specimen 
forms an attractive object when thickly studded with its white flowers. 
lt varies considerably in its mode of growth, sometimes forming a compact 
bush or shrub, at others a straggling shrub irregularly branched, or a small tree 
2oft. high. The branches are quite smooth, and usually angular or four-sided, 
with small opposite leaves marked with pellucid dots and round at the tip or, 
rarely, acute, but never notched as in M. obcordata: they are from in. to din. 
Jong, and carried on very slender leaf-stalks. The flowers are solitary, carried on 
long stalks springing from the axils of the leaves, and differ from those of other 
New Zealand species in the calyx being five-lobed instead of four-, and in the 
corolla being composed of five petals: in other respects the flowers resemble 
those of MW. obcordata. The fruit is red or, rarely, orange-coloured, and contains 
two or more bony seeds. 
Properties anD UsEs. 
The wood is dense, firm, and compact, prettily marked, and very similar to 
that of M. obcordata. It is occasionally employed for axe-handles and similar 
purposes; transverse sections of the trunk are sometimes used for inlaying. 
DISTRIBUTION OF THE GENUS. 
See under My'rtus obcordata, p. 127, ante. 
DISTRIBUTION OF THE SPECIES. 
Myrtus pedunculata is endemic in New Zealand, and, although it cannot be 
considered a common plant, it is found in numerous localities from Mongonui to 
Stewart Island. it is sometimes extremely local, or is even absent from large 
districts. 
It ascends from the sea-level to fully 2,oo00ft. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Myrtus pedunculata, Hook. f., ‘‘ cones Plantarum,” t. 629. 
A shrub of compact or strageling habit, or, rarely, a small tree, 2oft. high. 
Branchlets tetragonous, glabrous. Leaves opposite, obovate or oblong-ovate, 
rounded at the tips, din. to din. long, acute, pellucid-dotted; petioles slender. 
Flowers axillary, solitary on slender peduncles. Calyx superior, glabrous; limb 
five-lobed; petals five; stamens numerous; ovary two-celled. I*ruit a berry 
with two or, rarely, four bony seeds. Peduncles tin, long in fruit. 
KC 
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