Flora of New Zealand Series

Suttonia divaricata var. montana Hook. f. Fl, N.Z. 1, 1854, 173.

M. neo-zealandensis Col. in T.N.Z.I. 22, 1890, 479.

Suttonia novo-zelandensis (Col.) Mez in Pflanzenr. 9, 1902, 334.

Rapanea montana (Hook. f.) W. R. B. Oliver loc. cit. 112.

Shrub up to ± 3 m. tall; bark dark red-brown. Lvs on slender petioles ± 2 mm. long. Lamina 10-35 × 5-30 mm., thinly coriac., obovate to narrow-obovate to elliptic, obtuse to shallowly or deeply retuse to emarginate; margins flat or slightly recurved. Infl. of 1 or 2-5 fls together on very slender pedicels. Fls ± 3-4 mm. diam., unisexual; calyx-lobes 4, oblong, persistent; petals 4, free, obovate, ciliolate. Fr. when dry ± 4 mm. diam., subglobose.

DIST.: N., S. Lowland to montane forest from lat. 39º southwards, local.

A critical sp. needing much further study. Hooker's original description was: "arbuscula, foliis elongato-obovatis oblongisve obtusis rarius retusis:--potius species distincta . . . Top of Ruahine range, Colenso". Colenso's M. neo-zealandensis was based on specimens from "Edge of a wood on open plain south of Dannevirke . . . 1889: W. C." Only a single barren plant was seen, with lvs "obovate, 1 in.-11/4in. long, 5-6 lines broad, flat, membranous." The type, in W, has lvs 15-30 × 7-15 mm., narrow- to broad-obovate. It can easily be matched with specimens from elsewhere. Cockayne and Allan (Ann. Bot., Lond. 48, 1934, 37) after examination of herbarium material, concluded: " The whole series is strongly suggestive of the above hybrid group [M. australis × divaricata], and Myrsine neo-zealandensis appears to be one striking form of it. While hybridism cannot be certainly established from herbarium material that lacks adequate field notes, the fact that no one specimen matches another leaves but little doubt on the question." The diversity is over-emphasized in this statement, but probably M. montana will prove to be based on hybrid material.