Flora of New Zealand Series

monkey apple

Tree (6-15 m high in cultivation). Lvs very aromatic when crushed; petiole usually c. 5 mm long. Lamina 4-12-(15) × 2-5-(8) cm, ovate or elliptic-ovate, coriaceous, glossy above, dotted with glands below; veins parallel and prominent below; base cuneate or narrow-cuneate; apex obtusely cuspidate or acuminate. Fls shortly pedicellate. Hypanthium (including pseudopedicel) 3-5 mm long; calyx lobes 4, deciduous. Petals 4, c. 2 mm long, forming a small calyptrum, whitish. Stamens to c. 3 mm long, whitish. Fr. subglobose to broad-oblong or obovoid, often slightly flattened, usually 1-1.7-(3) cm diam., pinkish mauve or white, with apical cavity. Seed large.

N.: Bay of Islands, Whangarei area and Auckland.

E. Australia 1982

Occasional in the vicinity of planted trees, mainly in scrub or on waste ground.

FL Oct-Jan.

A commonly cultivated ornamental tree in warmer parts of N.Z., where it is also often used to form a windbreak. The common Australian name lilly pilly is sometimes used instead of monkey apple. The sp. is sometimes known in N.Z. as Eugenia smithii.