Manual of the New Zealand Flora/Myoporineæ
Order LVII. MYOPORINEÆ.
Shrubs or trees. Leaves alternate or scattered, rarely opposite, simple, entire or toothed; stipules wanting. Flowers hermaphrodite, irregular or almost regular. Calyx inferior, persistent, 5partite or 5-fid. Corolla gamopetalous, hypogynous, 5-lobed; lobes imbricate. Stamens 4, didynamous, rarely 5–6, inserted at the base of the corolla-tube; anthers introrse, cells confluent. Ovary superior, not lobed, normally 2-celled with 2 (rarely more) pendulous ovules in each cell, but sometimes the cells are more or less completely divided into 2, with a single ovule in each cell, or very rarely the cells may be as many as 5–10; style terminal: stigma small, entire or emarginate. Fruit drupaceous, indehiscent, succulent or almost dry, 2–4-celled, rarely more-celled. Seeds solitary in each cell; albumen scanty, fleshy; embryo straight; radicle superior, next the hilum.
A small order, almost confined to Australia, a few species only being found in the Pacific islands, the Malay Archipelago, and South Africa, and one monotypic genus in the West Indies. Genera 5; species about 90. The properties of the order are unimportant.
Shrubs or small trees, glabrous or the branchlets glutinous. Leaves alternate, entire or serrate, studded with pellucid glands. Flowers small, axillary, solitary or fascicled. Calyx 5-lobed or -partite, not enlarged after flowering. Corolla campanulate; tube short; limb 5-lobed, lobes subequal or the lowest rather larger. Stamens 4, rarely 5 or 6, nearly equal, included or shortly exserted. Ovary ovoid, 2–4-celled, very rarely 5–10-celled, with 1 ovule in each cell, rarely 2-celled with 2 ovules in each cell. Drupe ovoid or subglobose, more or less succulent.
A genus of about 25 species, mostly Australian, the rest scattered through the Pacific islands, the Malay Archipelago, China and Japan, and Mauritius. The single New Zealand species is endemic, but is very closely allied to some from the Pacific islands.
1. M. lætum, Forst. Prodr. n. 238.—A shrub or small tree 8–25 ft. high; trunk 9–18 in. diam.; bark brown, thick and furrowed; branches spreading, viscid at the tips. Leaves 1½–4 in. long, lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate or obovate, acute or acuminate, narrowed into petioles ½–1 in. long, serrulate above the middle, bright-green, quite glabrous, almost fleshy, veins inconspicuous. Flowers in axillary fascicles of 2–6, small, about ½ in. diam., white spotted with purple; peduncles ⅓–⅔ in. long. Calyx-segments lanceolate, acuminate. Corolla campanulate; lobes rounded, villous within. Stamens 4, scarcely exserted. Ovary 4-celled. Drupe ¼–⅓ in. long, oblong, succulent, reddish-purple.—A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 195; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 387; Raoul, Choix, 43; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 204; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 225; Kirk, Forest Fl. t. 124. Citharexylum perforatum, Forst. Prodr. sub. n. 238.
Kermadec Islands, Nobth and South Islands, Chatham Islands: Not uncommon in lowland districts as far south as Otago, chiefly near the coast. Ngaio. October–January.
The wood is said to be durable, and is sometimes used for cabinetwork; and an infusion of the leaves has been used as a wash to prevent the bites of mosquitoes.