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Article from New Trees by John Grimshaw & Ross Bayton
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'Myrceugenia planipes' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Small tree to 8 m, 0.3 m dbh. Bark smooth, greyish brown. Branchlets pale grey with dense or sparse pubescence; hairs usually white or yellowish, rarely reddish brown, dichotomous. Leaves evergreen, leathery, aromatic, 2.2–8 × 1–3 cm, elliptic, upper surface dull green and glabrous, lower surface yellowish green with moderate or sparse pubescence and a prominent midrib, secondary veins indistinct or up to 30 pairs visible, margins entire, apex acuminate; petiole 0.2–0.6 cm long, channelled. Flowers hermaphrodite, white, fragrant, 1–1.5 cm diameter; solitary or in groups of three (to four) in upper leaf axils, peduncles flattened, 0.7–3 cm long, with sparse or moderate pubescence. Bracteoles ovate to lanceolate, very small; calyx four-lobed, sparsely pubescent or glabrous; hypanthium densely pubescent; stamens 120–220. Fruit globose, purplish black, 0.8–1.5 cm diameter. Flowering December to February, fruiting March to May (Chile). Landrum 1981, Rodríguez R. et al. 1983. Distribution ARGENTINA; CHILE: Aisén, Arauco, Bío-Bío, Cantín, Chiloé, Concepción, Llanquihue, Malleco, Ñuble, Osorno, Valdivia Provinces. Habitat Montane forest and matorral. USDA Hardiness Zone 8. Conservation status Not evaluated. Illustration Rodríguez R. et al. 1983; NT524.
Myrceugenia planipes was not discussed by Gardner & Hechenleitner (2005) but was first introduced by the Chile Darwin Ini tiative Expedition of 1995 (CDI 11). Further collections were made by Edinburgh teams in 1998 (UCEXC 437, Berberidopsis Expedition 16). From these it has become established at Inver leith and Logan, and has been ‘outhoused’ for safekeeping to appropriate gardens elsewhere. A specimen seen at Logan in 2006, grown from CDI 11, has formed a bushy small tree (2.2 m in 2006), with ascending branches arising from a single main stem. It looks remarkably like Myrtus communis and, out of flower, could not be said to appear very exciting.