Flora of North America species comparison

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Myoporum laetum

myoporum, ngaio tree
Habit Shrubs or trees, broadly spreading, 30–100 dm.
Stems

ascending to prostrate, much branched;

twig tips and young leaves bronze green, sticky.
Leaves

blade bright green, lanceolate, 5–12.5 × 1.5–3 cm, margins finely serrate distal to middle, embedded glands conspicuous.
Flowers

2–4 per axil;

corolla white with purple spots on lobes and distal tube, tube 3.5–4.5 mm, lobes equal, 4–5.5 mm, densely long-hairy adaxially;

anthers well exserted from tube;

ovary smooth.
Capsules

pale to dark reddish purple, ovoid, 5–10 mm.
Seeds

oblong, 3–3.5 mm.
2n

= 108 (New Zealand).

Myoporum laetum
Phenology Flowering (Jan–)Mar–Aug.
Habitat Open areas in grasslands, scrub, riparian habitats, generally coastal.
Elevation 0–500 m. (0–1600 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; Pacific Islands (New Zealand) [Introduced in North America; introduced also in s South America (Argentina, Uruguay)]
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[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Myoporum laetum is commonly cultivated in coastal areas of California. Although first collected outside of cultivation in 1949, it was not recognized as an introduced element of local and regional floras until the 1970s. It has naturalized mostly in southern California to San Luis Obispo County with some populations north along the coast to the San Francisco Bay area.

Myoporum insulare R. Brown, also cultivated in California, is similar to M. laetum, and some reports of M. laetum are possibly M. insulare. Myoporum insulare has leaves that are lighter green when young, and the translucent glands of the mature leaves are less conspicuous. The flowers are slightly smaller with anthers that are only slightly exserted from the tubes, and the fruits are smaller and globular.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 17, p. 336.
Parent taxa Scrophulariaceae > Myoporum
Sibling taxa
M. acuminatum, M. parvifolium
Name authority G. Forster: Fl. Ins. Austr., 44. (1786)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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