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Colicwood

Myrsine

Colicwood
Photo: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0
Family
Primulaceae (Primul family)

About

Myrsine is a genus of flowering plants in the family Primulaceae. It was formerly placed in the family Myrsinaceae before this was merged into the Primulaceae. It is found nearly worldwide, primarily in tropical and subtropical areas. It contains over 280 species, 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, indehiscent 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.

Other Myrsine plants

Myrsine adamsonii · African Boxwood · Myrsine andersonii · Mapou · Myrsine brownii · Myrsine bullata · Myrsine ceylanica · Cook Islands Myrsine · Myrsine collina · Leathery colicwood · Summit colicwood · Myrsine diazii

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Myrsine by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.

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