Flora of New Zealand Series

M. polymorpha Hook. f. Handbk N.Z. Fl. 1864, 73 non Gaud. Freyc. Voy. Bot. 1826, 482, t. 85.

M. villosa Kirk Stud. Fl. 1899, 163 non Smith in Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond. 3, 1797, 268.

Tree up to 15 m. or more tall; trunk up to 1m. or more diam. Branchlets, lvs below, infl.-axes, receptacles, sepals densely clad in white tomentum; branchlets terete. Lvs on stout petioles ± 5 mm. long; lamina 2-5 × 1-2 cm., broadly ovate- to elliptic-oblong, coriac., margins recurved. Infl. of terminal compound cymes with ∞ fls; pedicels stout, up to c. 10 mm. long. Receptacle obconic; sepals deltoid to triangular, gland-tipped; petals oblong, pubescent, crimson. Stamens crimson, ± 12-20 mm. long. Ovary 3-celled, adnate to receptacle; capsules ± 6 mm. long, distinctly exserted, woody, white-tomentose, loculicidally 3-valved.

DIST.: K. Sunday Id.

FL. most of year. The closely allied villosa occurs in Polynesia.