Lophomyrtus bullata Burret

bubbleleaf, ramarama, New Zealand myrtle

New Zealand endemic.

Compared to hybrid selections, the species is uncommon in nurseries, or in gardens throughout New Zealand, yet it is an easily propagated, attractive and hardy shrub.

Occurs naturally scattered through most of the North Island apart from the Central Plateau, and the upper north-eastern half of the South Island of New Zealand, in coastal and lowland forests. Said to range to North Canterbury and Greymouth, but this is undocumented with collections. Many current observations from the lower South Island in iNaturalist NZ are from cultivated plants, which are most likely to be hybrid cultivars.

• Mature bark fibrous, flaky, grey-brown to reddish.
• Paired leaves with surfaces puckered (‘bubbly’, bullate) between veins.
• Leaves usually blemished with red, maroon or pink spots or blotches.
• Leaves 15–30 mm long, 10–15 mm wide.
• Leaf tips rounded with short points at the tips.
• Flowers solitary, axillary, petals and stamens white.
• Flowers with 4 petals and sepals.
• Flower and fruit stalks long.
• Fruit a spherical berry, reddish purple to black, ± 6–8 mm wide.

Branched shrubs or trees to about 12 m tall.

Mature bark fibrous, flaky, grey-brown to reddish. Young branchlets and stems hairy, becoming hairless with age. Young branchlets 4-angled to begin with, then round with age.

Leaves opposite, leathery, gland-dotted, broadly ovate to sub-orbicular, 15–30(–50) mm long, 10–15(–40) mm wide, nearly as wide as long, upper surface dark to yellow green, blemished with irregular or circular pink, red to maroon spots and blotches, lower surface pink or red-streaked, leaf surface wavy, puckered (‘bubbly’), finely hairy, becoming hairless with age; margins entire; tips mainly obtuse and often with short points; leaf stalks 2–5(–10) mm long.

Flowers solitary, axillary, ± 12–14 mm wide, flower stalks 12–14 mm long, petals 4, white, rounded; sepals 4, persistent, tips free, hairy; stamens numerous, white. Main flowering period: spring to summer.

Fruit a dark reddish purple to black spherical berry, 2–3-locular, ± 6–8 mm wide, seeds few to numerous, kidney-shaped.

Most similar to the naturally occurring hybrid Lophomyrtus ×ralphii which mostly occurs wherever the range of L. bullata and L. obcordata overlap. Lophomyrtus bullata has little similarity to L. obcordata, a species with smaller (5–12 × 5–10 mm) inversely heart-shaped (obcordate) leaves with a smooth rather than ‘bubbly’ (bullate) surface.

Lophomyrtus is a genus of two species (L. bullata and L. obcordata) endemic to New Zealand. Lophomyrtus ×ralphii, the naturally occurring hybrid between L. bullata and L. obcordata, and a suite of hybrid cultivars are more commonly cultivated.

Myrtle rust (caused by Austropuccinia psidii) has been recorded in some natural populations of L. bullata in New Zealand. It has proven to be highly susceptible to the disease and deaths from myrtle rust are now common. In anticipation of this happening, L. bullata was given a conservation status of Threatened – Nationally Critical in 2018.

• CitSciHub
• Flora of New Zealand Online
• GBIF
• iNaturalist NZ
• NZPCN