Flora of New Zealand Series

brush cherry

Large shrub or small tree to c. 10 m high; bark smooth, light grey; pneumatophores 0. Branchlets ± pendent, angular. Lvs aromatic when crushed; petiole < 10 mm long. Lamina mostly 4-10-(13) × 1-3.5-(4) cm, sometimes smaller near base of branchlets and below infl., often narrowly elliptic, sometimes elliptic or obovate, glossy, slightly undulate; veins numerous, conspicuous and parallel; base attenuate or narrowly cuneate; apex mostly cuspidate to acuminate, but sharply acute in obovate lvs. Cymes with 3-25 fls, terminal or in the upper axils of short leafy branchlets, to c. 15 cm diam.; peduncles to c. 4 cm long; pedicels shorter, slender, angular. Hypanthium 4-6 mm long at anthesis, obconic, generally dark red at least on exposed side; pseudopedicel hardly evident; calyx lobes 2-4 mm long, broadly triangular-ovate, sometimes dark red, persistent on fr. Petals c. 4 mm diam., free, suborbicular, white, caducous. Stamens to c. 13 mm long, white. Style ± = longest stamens. Fr. 1-2-(2.5) × 0.7-1.5-(2) cm, oblong to obovoid, crimson to crimson-purple, ± glossy. Seed 1 or few, large; cotyledons green.

N.: E. areas from Mangonui to the vicinity of Whangarei (N. Auckland), Auckland, Henderson.

Queensland, N.S.W. 1982

Roadside banks or in scrub near gardens, or disturbed and rather open forest remnants.

FL Jan-Jul.

Wild N.Z. plants were previously recorded as S. paniculatum Gaertner (Sykes 1982), a closely related sp. from N.S.W. The 2 spp. have been distinguished by Hyland, B. P. M., Austral. J. Bot. Suppl. Ser. no. 9 (1983). The main differences are that in S. australe the strong young shoots are ± 4-winged with the wings joining just above the node to form a pocket or protuberance and the seeds contain a single embryo, whereas in S. paniculatum the shoots are at most angled and so lack a nodal pocket or protuberance and the seeds contain several embryos.

S. paniculatum is occasionally cultivated in N.Z., whilst S. australe is commonly cultivated (Gardner, R. O., Auckland Bot. Soc. Newsletter 42: 12-14 (1987). The fleshy frs are distributed by birds and spontaneous plants usually occur near sites of cultivation. It has been previously known as Eugenia paniculata and often as E. myrtifolia in N.Z.