Myrsine aquilonia de Lange & Heenan

Evergreen, upright, dioecious, shrub or small tree, up to 12 m tall. Shrubs with several main stems, often densely branched, suckering extensively when roots are exposed. Trees erect, with one to several main trunks, trunks up to 45 cm basal diam., with prominent ring-like constrictions at base, branch junctions, and between main branches; outer bark grey, smooth to slightly rough; inner bark, when exposed, pink to grey-pink; inner wood, when exposed, rose-pink. Branchlets aggregated toward branch ends, sparse to crowded, virgate, spreading to upright, not divaricating or drooping, slender, branching angle 30–80°, sparsely to moderately lenticellate, leaves moderately to densely covered with simple and branched hairs when young, becoming glabrous with age. Seedling stem sparsely to densely covered with simple and branched hairs, conspicuously lenticellate; primary branchlets ± patent to main stem; leaves 10–34 × 8–22 mm, obovate, apex retuse with a prominent cleft or toothed to sometimes praemorse, margin and lamina with conspicuous orange glands, base attenuate.Leaves 12–28 × 10–17 mm, yellow-green when immature, light green to green when mature, without a prominent dark blotch at lamina base, obovate, coriaceous, alternate on branchlets or brachyblasts; glands orange, conspicuous on lamina and margin of immature leaves, conspicuous on margin of abaxial surface when mature or dry; apex deeply retuse to obcordate, rarely praemorse, cleft up to 2 mm deep; margin entire, sometimes slightly repand; base attenuate to shortly attenuate; petiole 1.7–2.2 mm long, plano-convex; simple and branched hairs on petiole, leaf margin, base of midrib, apex, and proximal end of lamina becoming glabrous or glabrate with maturity. Flowers axillary, solitary or in fascicles of up to 6, often densely crowded on brachyblasts. Female fl owers: peduncles 0.7–0.9 mm long; subtended by a triangular bract, 0.6–0.7 × 0.5–0.6 mm, green, apex subacute, margin fi mbriate; sepals 4, usually free but sometimes slightly fused at the base, 0.9–1.1 × 0.7–0.9 mm, green, triangular, abaxial and adaxial surfaces glabrous, apex subacute, margins fi mbriate; petals 4, free, 1.6–1.7 × 1.0–1.1 mm, broadly elliptic, green and often fl ushed maroon, upright and recurved at apex at maturity, abaxial and adaxial surfaces glabrous and with a few orange glands, claw indistinct or <0.3 mm long, apex obtuse, margin fimbriate; ovary 1.1–1.2 × 0.9–1.0 mm, usually with conspicuous glands; style distinct, 0.2–0.3 mm long; stigma 0.6–0.8 × 0.6–0.8 mm, spherical, globular; anthers sessile, rudimentary, 0.6–0.7 × 0.4–0.5 mm, apices with a tuft of hairs, pollen absent. Male flowers: peduncles 0.7–1.0 × 0.6–0.7 mm; subtended by a broad triangular bract, 0.2–0.4 × 0.6–0.9 mm, green, apex subacute, margin fimbriate; sepals 4, usually free but sometimes slightly fused at the base, 0.9–1.1 × 0.7–0.8 mm, green, triangular, abaxial and adaxial surfaces glabrous, apex subacute to obtuse, margins sparsely fimbriate or glabrate; petals 4, free, 2.5–2.8 × 1.2–1.3 mm, obovate, green and often flushed maroon, spreading from base and recurved at anthesis, abaxial and adaxial surfaces glabrous and with scattered orange glands, claw 0.8–0.9 mm long, apex subacute to obtuse, margins fimbriate; filaments absent, anthers sessile, attached about half-way along petal; anthers 1.2–1.5 × 0.6–0.8 mm, apices with a tuft of hairs; gynoecium rudimentary, ovary c. 0.5 × 0.5 mm, stigma c. 0.2 × 0.2 mm. Fruit a drupe. Mesocarp green when immature, style base persistent; at maturity 3.8–4.7 × 3.5–4.7 mm, circular or sometimes broadly elliptic, purple or violet. Endocarp 2.4–3.6 × 3.2–3.3 mm, usually circular, terete, light yellow-green to creambrown with paler ± indistinct longitudinal veins. FL Aug; FT Dec–Jan.

[Reproduced from Heenan & de Lange (2004, New Zealand J. Bot. 42: 753–769) with permission from The Royal Society of New Zealand.]