Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Malpighiales Martius
Family
Violaceae
Genus
Melicytus J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.
 Subordinate Taxa
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Melicytus lanceolatus Hook.f., Bot. Antarct. Voy. II. (Fl. Nov.-Zel.) Part I, 18, t. 8 (1852)
Vernacular Name(s):
Kaiwētā; Māhoe-wao; narrow-leaved mahoe; Tāranga; Willow-leaved mahoe
 Description

Slender shrub or tree up to 5 m. tall or more; bark brownish grey; branch- lets brittle. Lvs on slender petioles up to 1·5 cm. long; lamina membr., 5–16 × 0·5–3 cm.; narrow- to rather broad-lanceolate to lanceolate- oblong, us. acuminate, rather finely but bluntly serrate. Infl. of 2–6 fascicled fls on slender, ± decurved pedicels c. 5–10 mm. long; bracts above middle. Fls ± 5 mm. diam.; calyx teeth linear to narrow-oblong, obtuse; petals purplish, recurved at apex. Anthers connected by membrane that is produced above and cut into triangular-attenuate teeth. Style (2)–3-fid, rather long. Berries dark purple, subglobose, 4–6 mm. diam. Seeds 6–12, minutely tuberculate.

[From: Allan (1961) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 1.]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
Number of subspecific taxa in New Zealand within Melicytus lanceolatus Hook.f.
CategoryNumber
Indigenous (Endemic)2
Total2
 Phenology

Flowering: Jun.–Dec.; Fruiting: Jul.–Feb.

 Bibliography
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Barkla J.W.; Courtney, S.P.; Champion, P.D.; Perrie, L.R.; Beadel, S.N.; Ford, K.A.; Breitwieser, I.; Schönberger, I.; Hindmarsh-Walls, R.; Heenan, P.B.; Ladley, K. 2018: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017. New Zealand Threat Classification Series. No. 22. [Not Threatened]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Champion, P.D.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Norton, D.A.; Hitchmough, R.A. 2013: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 3. Department of Conservation, Wellington. [Not Threatened]
Hooker, J.D. 1852–1853 ("1853"): The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H.M. Discovery Ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839–1843, under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross. II. Flora Novae-Zelandiae. Part I. Flowering plants. Lovell Reeve, London.
Kirk,T. 1899: The Students' Flora of New Zealand and the Outlying Islands. Government Printer, Wellington, N.Z.