590 MYRTACEAE... | Metrosideros, 
2. METROSIDEROS Banks. 
Krect or climbing trees or shrubs. Leaves opposite, sometimes dis- 
tichous especially in the young climbing branches, coriaceous. Flowers 
often handsome, white or red or crimson, usually disposed in~ terminal 
cymes or racemes. Calyx-tube adnate to the base of the ovary, campanu- 
late, turbinate or urceolate; lobes 5, imbricate. Petals 5, spreading. 
Stamens very numerous, much longer than the petals; filaments filiform ; 
anthers versatile. Ovary inferior or half-superior, 3-celled.; style filiform ; 
stigma small ; ovules numerous in each cell. Capsule coriaceous, altogether 
enclosed in the persistent calyx-tube or protruding beyond it, 3-celled, 
loculicidally 3-valved or irregularly dehiscent. Seeds numerous, densely 
packed, linear; testa membranous. 
In addition to the 11 species found in New Zealand, all but one of which are endemic, 
there are a few scattered through Polynesia, New Caledonia, Australia, and the Malay 
Archipelago, together with an aberrant species in South Africa. New Zealand is the 
only country which possesses climbing species. | 
* Capsule coriaceous or woody, wholly enclosed in the calyx-tube, which is pro- 
duced far beyond it, dehiscing irregularly or by 3 apical valves. 
Climbing. Leaves obtuse. Calyx glabrous. Capsule large, 
i—3 in. i + th te i a: 1. M. florida. 
Erect, 30-60 ft. Leaves elliptic-lanceolate, acute or acuminate. 
Calyx silky. Capsule 4 in. ne 5, of ~ 2. M. lucida. 
A much-branched shrub. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, acute. Cymes 
usually on the old wood below the leaves .. ~ <- 3 M. Parkinsonii. 
** Capsule hardly coriaceous, wholly enclosed in the calyx-tube, which is produced 
far beyond it, dehiscing to the base. All climbers. 
Leaves decussate, large 14-3in., acute or acuminate. Flowers 
large, white, terminal ae bs we pte 4, M. albiflora. 
eaves decussate, smaller, 3-14 in., obtuse. Flowers crimson .. _5. M. diffusa. 
Leaves distichous, subacute. Branchlets glabrescent. Flowers 
_ always lateral .. Rie ry a ay x 
‘Leaves distichous, acuminate. Branchlets pubescent. Flowers 
usually terminal ne" ‘ad Sr. bs .. 7, M. Colensoi. 
6. M. hypericifolia. 
7K Capsule exserted beyond the calyx-tube, the free portion 3-valved. 
Krect. Leaves decussate, glabrous, obtuse, 1-14 in. long .. ° 8. M. robusta. 
Erect. Leaves decussate, white with appressed tomentum beneath, 
2—4 in. long “4 ts na x. he 
Erect. Leaves decussate, white with appressed tomentum beneath, 
$2 in. long 9 - id + be 10. M. villosa. 
,Climbing. Leaves distichous, 4-}in. long. Flowers white .. wIL. M. scandens. 
z t a 
| Fup Gig GH: 
1. M. florida Sm. in Trans. Linn. Soc. iii (1797) 269.— Usually 
‘a tel: woody climber, reaching the tops of lofty trees; stems long, cable- 
like, often 3-6 in. diam.; bark loose, separating in large flakes. Leaves 
14-3 in. long, shortly petioled, elliptic-oblong, obtuse, coriaceous, glabrous ; 
‘midrib stout. Flowers orange-red, in few- or many-flowered terminal 
simple or branched cymes. Calyx obconic or turbinate, glabrous, pro- 
Pg duced beyond the ovary. Petals orbicular, yellowish-red. Stamens scarlet, 
every numerous, {-lin. long. Ovary completely adnate with the base of 
the calyx-tube, 3-celled. Capsule deeply sunk within the persistent calyx, 
and with it forming a woody urceolate 5-ribbed fruit 3-} In. long, usually 
dehiscing by 3 valves within the calyx.—A. Rich. Fl. Nowy. Zel. (1832) 
Baas. A. Cunn. Pregzr. (1839) n. 559; Raoul Choir (1846) 49; Hook. f. 
Fl. Nov. Zel. i (1853) 66, t. 15; Handb. N.Z. FI. (1864) 70; 7. Kirk Forest 
<=. PTI ( qe) B- | 
.9. M. tomentosa. 
