Myrtaceae
Evergreen shrubs or trees. Lvs simple, usually entire, sometimes finely toothed in juvenile and intermediate lvs, exstipulate, very rarely stipulate, generally coriaceous, opposite, or alternate (often in adult shoots), often dotted with pellucid glands. Fls solitary in cymes, often in panicles, actinomorphic, usually ⚥. Hypanthium (calyx tube) ± adnate to ovary, the lower part sometimes narrow and forming a pseudopedicel; lobes (2)-4-5-(many), sometimes calyptrate, sometimes calyx rim-like. Petals as many as calyx lobes or rarely 0, imbricate, sometimes caducous, sometimes calyptrate. Stamens usually numerous; filaments free or connate at base, sometimes in bundles opposite petals; anthers small, usually dehiscing by longitudinal slits, rarely by apical pores; connective gland-tipped. Ovary inferior; ovules usually numerous, rarely few or 1, mostly with axile, rarely parietal, placentation; style simple; stigma capitate. Fr. a loculicidal capsule or berry-like. Seeds usually numerous; endosperm 0 or scanty.
SYNOPSIS
is represented in N.Z. by , the classical myrtle of the Mediterranean region. Although not wild, it long persists as a relic of cultivation and sometimes regenerates around mature plants. It is distinguished from all other spp. of its subfamily in N.Z. by the following combination of characters: a sweetly aromatic shrub; lvs ovate, acute; fls axillary, single or paired; petals almost patent, prominent, white; frs c. 1 × 0.7 cm, oblong-ellipsoid, black, with prominently accrescent calyx lobes.
- A. Subfam. LEPTOSPERMOIDEAE.
- Fr. generally capsular and woody, if ± indehiscent then never fleshy. Seeds 1-numerous, usually small:
- AgonisAngophoraBackhousia Harvey Baeckea L. Beaufortia R. Br. CallistemonCalytrix Labill.ChamelauciumEucalyptusKunzeaLeptospermumMelaleuca L.MetrosiderosTristania R. Br.
- B. Subfam. MYRTOIDEAE.
Key
c. 100 genera, 3000 spp., mainly S. Hemisphere and tropical.
The spp. which are recorded here as wild are usually not conspicuously and widely naturalised. Genera listed for the 2 subfamilies below include a number which, although conspicuous in cultivation and as relics of cultivation in old gardens, have no wild members.
