Myrsine

Myrsine
Myrsine alyxifolia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Ericales
Family:	Myrsinaceae
Genus:	Myrsine L.
Species
See text.
Synonyms
Rapanea Suttonia A.Rich.

Myrsine is a genus of flowering plants, the nominate genus of the family Myrsinaceae. It is found nearly worldwide, primarily in tropical and subtropical areas. It contains about 200 species,^[1] including several notable radiations, such as the matipo of New Zealand and the kōlea of Hawaiʻi (the New Zealand "black matipo", Pittosporum tenuifolium, is not related to Myrsine). In the United States, members of this genus are known as colicwood. Some species, especially M. africana, are grown as ornamental shrubs.

The leathery, evergreen leaves are simple and alternate, with smooth or toothed margins and without stipules. The one-seeded, in dehiscent fruit is a thin-fleshed globose drupe. The flowers and fruits often do not develop until after leaf fall and thus appear naked on the branches. The fruits often do not mature until the year after flowering. The calyx is persistent.

The Pacific basin and New World species formerly separated in the genera Rapanea and Suttonia (distinguished from the African and Southeast Asian Myrsine sensu stricto by having the style absent and staminal tube and filaments completely adnate to the corolla) have now been included in Myrsine.^[1]

Selected species

• Myrsine adamsonii Fosberg & Sachet (French Polynesia)
• Myrsine africana (Africa and South Asia)
• Myrsine andersonii Fosbert & Sachet (French Polynesia)
• Myrsine aquilonia
• Myrsine argentea
• Myrsine australis
• Myrsine brachyclada
• Myrsine brownii Fosbert & Sachet (French Polynesia)
• Myrsine bullata Pipoly (Peru)
• Myrsine chathamica
• Myrsine collina Nadeaud (French Polynesia)
• Myrsine coxii
• Myrsine degeneri Hosaka (Oʻahu in Hawaiʻi)
• Myrsine diazii Pipoly (Peru)
• Myrsine divaricata
• Myrsine falcata Nadeaud (French Polynesia)
• Myrsine fasciculata (J.Moore) Fosberg & Sachet (French Polynesia)
• Myrsine fernseei (Mez) Hosaka (Kauaʻi in Hawaiʻi)
• Myrsine fosbergii Hosaka (Oʻahu and Kauaʻi in Hawaiʻi)
• Myrsine fusca (J.Moore) Fosberg & Sachet (French Polynesia)
• Myrsine gracilissima Fosberg & Sachet (French Polynesia)
• Myrsine hartii
• Myrsine hosakae H.St.John (Pitcairn Islands)
• Myrsine howittiana (F.Muell. ex Mez) Jackes (Eastern Australia)
• Myrsine juddii
• Myrsine kermadecensis
• Myrsine knudsenii (Rock) Hosaka (Kauaʻi in Hawaiʻi)
• Myrsine laetevirens (Mez) Arechav.
• Myrsine lessertiana A.DC. - Kōlea lau nui (Hawaiʻi)^[2]
• Myrsine linearifolia
• Myrsine longifolia Nadeaud (French Polynesia)
• Myrsine mezii Hosaka (Kauaʻi in Hawaiʻi)
• Myrsine neo-zealandensis = M. montana
• Myrsine niauensis Fosberg & Sachet (French Polynesia)
• Myrsine nukuhivensis Fosberg & Sachet (French Polynesia)
• Myrsine nummularia
• Myrsine obovata (J.Moore) Fosberg & Sachet (French Polynesia)
• Myrsine oliveri Allan (New Zealand)
• Myrsine orohenensis (J.Moore) Fosberg & Sachet (French Polynesia)
• Myrsine pearce (Mez) Pipoly (Peru)
• Myrsine petiolata Hosaka (Kauaʻi in Hawaiʻi)
• Myrsine raiateensis (J.Moore) Fosberg & Sachet (French Polynesia)
• Myrsine rapensis (F.Brown) Fosberg & Sachet (French Polynesia)
• Myrsine reynelii Pipoly (Peru)
• Myrsine rivularis (Mez) Pipoly (Peru)
• Myrsine ronuiensis (M.Grant) Fosberg & Sachet (French Polynesia)
• Myrsine salicina
• Myrsine sandwicensis A.DC. - Kōlea lau liʻi (Hawaiʻi)^[3]
• Myrsine sodiroana (Mez) Pipoly (Ecuador)
• Myrsine tahuatensis Fosbert & Sachet (French Polynesia)
• Myrsine umbricola
• Myrsine variabilis = Variable Muttonwood, from eastern Australia

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Wagner, W. L.; D. R. Herbst, and S. H. Sohmer (1999). Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawaii. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. p. 934. 
2. ^ Little Jr., Elbert L.; Roger G. Skolmen (1989) (PDF). Kōlea. United States Forest Service. http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/forestry/data/CommonTreesHI/CFT_Myrsine_lessertiana.pdf. 
3. ^ Little Jr., Elbert L.; Roger G. Skolmen (1989) (PDF). Kōlea lau-liʻi. United States Forest Service. http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/forestry/data/CommonTreesHI/CFT_Myrsine_sandwicensis.pdf. 

• Ngā Tipu Aotearoa - Most recent taxonomy (only of NZ species).
• Flora of New Zealand.