Myrsine

Belongs within: Primulales.

Myrsine is a widespread genus of trees and shrubs with simple leathery leaves; flowers and fruits often do not develop until after leaves are shed and so appear naked on the branches (Allan 1961). Cape myrtle or African boxwood M. africana is widely grown as an ornamental, particularly in hedges.

Characters (Allan 1961). Flowers 4–5-merous, perfect to unisexual, usually in cymose fascicles, sometimes solitary. Sepals free or connate towards base; petals free or partly connate. Staminal filaments obsolete to evident, free or more or less adnate to petals; anthers dorsifixed. Style obsolete to evident; stigma capitate. Ovary superior; fruit a one-seeded globose drupe; fruits often not maturing until year after flowering. Calyx and style long-persistent.

<==Myrsine Linnaeus 1753A61
    |--*M. africanaA61 [incl. M. retusaC55b]
    |--M. acranthaJ87
    |--M. australis (Rich.) Allan 1947A61 (see below for synonymy)
    |--M. chathamica Muell. 1864 [=Rapanea chathamica (Muell.) Oliver 1951, Suttonia chathamica (Muell.) Mez 1902]A61
    |--M. coriacea (Sw.) Br. ex Roem. & Schult. in L. 1819 (see below for synonymy)L95
    |--M. coxii Cockayne 1902 [=Rapanea coxii (Cockayne) Oliver 1951, Suttonia coxii Cockayne 1903]A61
    |--M. dependensC55a
    |--M. divaricata Cunn. 1839A61 (see below for synonymy)
    |--M. floridana DC. 1834L95
    |--M. kermadecensis Cheesem. 1892 [=Rapanea kermadecensis (Cheesem.) Mez 1902, Suttonia kermadecensis Cheesem. 1925]A61
    |--M. kimberleyensisLK14
    |--M. magnoliifoliaJ87
    |--M. montana Hooker 1864 (see below for synonymy)A61
    |--M. nubicolaJ87
    |--M. nummularia Hooker 1864 [=Suttonia nummularia Hooker 1854, Rapanea nummularia (Hooker) Oliver 1951]A61
    |--M. oliveri Allan 1961 [=Suttonia dentata Oliver 1948 non M. dentata Spreng. 1828, Rapanea dentata Oliver 1951]A61
    |--M. rapaneaC55a
    |--M. salicina Heward ex Hooker 1864 [=Suttonia salicina Hooker 1844, Rapanea salicina (Hooker) Mez 1902]A61
    |--M. semiserrataD07
    |--M. trinitatisL95
    `--M. variabilisH87

Myrsine australis (Rich.) Allan 1947^A61 [=Suttonia australis Rich. 1832^A61, Rapanea australis (Rich.) Oliver 1951^A61; incl. M. richardiana Endl. 1836^A61, M. urvillei DC. 1834^A61, Rapanea urvillei^C06]

Myrsine coriacea (Sw.) Br. ex Roem. & Schult. in L. 1819 [=Samara coriacea Sw. 1788, Rapanea coriacea (Sw.) Mez in Urb. 1901; incl. Myrsine berterii DC. 1834, Caballeria ferruginea Ruiz & Pavon 1798, M. ferruginea (Ruiz & Pavon) Spreng. in L. 1825, Rapanea ferruginea (Ruiz & Pavon) Mez in Urb. 1901]^L95

Myrsine divaricata Cunn. 1839^A61 [=Rapanea divaricata (Cunn.) Oliver 1951^A61, Suttonia divaricata (Cunn.) Hook. f. 1844^A61; incl. M. pendula Colenso 1889^C06]

Myrsine montana Hooker 1864 [=Suttonia divaricata var. montana Hooker 1854, Rapanea montana (Hooker) Oliver 1951; incl. Myrsine neo-zealandensis Colenso 1890, Suttonia novo-zelandensis (Colenso) Mez 1902]^A61

*Type species of generic name indicated

References

[A61] Allan, H. H. 1961. Flora of New Zealand vol. 1. Indigenous Tracheophyta: Psilopsida, Lycopsida, Filicopsida, Gymnospermae, Dicotyledones. R. E. Owen, Government Printer: Wellington (New Zealand).

[C55a] Candolle, A. de. 1855a. Géographie Botanique Raisonée: Ou exposition des faits principaux et des lois concernant la distribution géographique des plantes de l’époque actuelle vol. 1. Librairie de Victor Masson: Paris.

[C55b] Candolle, A. de. 1855b. Géographie Botanique Raisonée: Ou exposition des faits principaux et des lois concernant la distribution géographique des plantes de l’époque actuelle vol. 2. Librairie de Victor Masson: Paris.

[C06] Cheeseman, T. F. 1906. Manual of the New Zealand Flora. John Mackay, Government Printer: Wellington.

[D07] Dash, S. S. 2007. Useful plants of Kabi Sacred Grove, Sikkim. Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 49: 79–88.

[H87] Haviland, E. 1887. Flowering seasons of Australian plants. No. II. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, series 2, 1 (4): 1103–1104.

[J87] Judd, W. S. 1987. Floristic study of Morne La Visite and Pic Macaya National Parks, Haiti. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum—Biological Sciences 32 (1): 1–136.

[L95] Liogier, H. A. 1995. Descriptive Flora of Puerto Rico and Adjacent Islands: Spermatophyta-Dicotyledoneae vol. 4. Melastomataceae to Lentibulariaceae. Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico.

[LK14] Lyons, M. N., G. J. Keighery, L. A. Gibson & T. Handasyde. 2014. Flora and vegetation communities of selected islands off the Kimberley coast of Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 81: 205–244.