Schinus latifolia (Gillies ex Lindl.) Engl.

Closely allied to S. polygama. Branchlets not spine-tipped. Branches glabrous or clad with spreading white hairs. Leaves ovate, narrowly ovate or broad-elliptic, rounded or truncate at the base, acute to rounded at the apex, mostly 13⁄4 to 23⁄8 in. long and 3⁄4 to 13⁄8 in. wide, deep green above, light green below, downy or glabrous on both sides, prominently veined beneath, margins undulate and toothed. Introduced before 1829. It was hardy at Kew on the Temperate House Terrace.

Like S. polygama, the flowers have no bright colour to recommend them, but they are borne in such profusion that the shrub gives quite a pleasing effect. The leaves and other parts have a turpentine-scented sap, and from this derives what Loudon calls ‘a pretty phenomenon’. It was described by Lindley as follows: the leaves or parts of leaves, when placed in water, ‘after lying a short time, will be found to start and jump as if they were alive, while at the instant of each start a jet of oily matter is discharged into the water … Thus we have in every leaf a sort of vegetable battery, which will keep up its fire until the stock of ammunition is exhausted.’