Austromyrtus dulcis.
The Silky myrtle or Midgen berry was previously known as Myrtus dulcis.
They are commonly cultivated.
Young shrubs are prostrate but older ones may be up to 1 or 2 m high.
There are simple hairs on the young branches.
The brown bark on older branches flakes off.
The opposite leaves, in 2 ranks are on petioles up to 3 mm long.
The dark green blades are up to 3 cm long and up to 1 or 1.5 cm wide.
They are ovate, elliptic to lanceolate with a pointed tip.
The upper surface may havsome hairs that are usually lost.
The lower surface is grey or silvery due to a dense layer of simple hairs that lie along the surface.
There are dense translucent oil glands.
New growth is a deep red to maroon.
Axillary inflorescences are often a single flower but there may be up to five or six.
They are on pedicels around 5 mm long that have pale hairs.
Flowers are less than 10 mm long and wide.
The hypanthium of fused sepal and petal bases is only 1 to 2 mm long and is densely hairy.
There are typically 5 (4) sepal and 5 white petal lobes on the rim of the hypanthium.
The sepals are up to 2 mm long and the ovate petals around 4 mm.
Both have hairs
The many free stamens are inserted onto the rim of the hypanthium.
The white filaments are up to 5 mm long.
The inferior ovary has 2 locules and a single style around 3 or 4 mm long.
The fruit are white berries around 6 mm long.
They are covered in small dark bluish to mauve dots.
The 3 to 9 tiny seeds are brown.
J.F.
