Volume I (1961) - Flora of New Zealand Indigenous Tracheophyta - Psilopsida, Lycopsida, Filicopsida, Gymnospermae, Dicotyledons
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Myrtaceae

MYRTACEAE

Fls us. regular, perfect, solitary to paniculate. Receptacle ± adnate to inferior ovary. Sepals us. 4-5 and persistent; petals us. 4-5 and free, imbricate, inserted on margin of disk. Stamens ∞, filaments free to connate or in bundles opp. petals, anther-connective often gland-tipped. Ovary cells 1 - ∞, with us. axile placentation; style and stigma 1. Fr. mostly either baccate or capsular with loculicidal dehiscence. Seeds with scanty or no endosperm. Trees and shrubs with mostly simple, entire, opp., exstipulate, coriac., gland-dotted, aromatic lvs. Some 80 genera and 3000 spp., mostly tropical and subtropical.

Key

1
Fr. a capsule
2
Fr. a berry
3
3
Fls in cymes
Fls solitary
4
4
Sepals and petals 4; ovules in one series
Sepals and petals 5; ovules in two series

The frs of the N.Z. spp. often do not dehisce till the succeeding year, or even later.

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