Acmena smithii (Poir.) Merr. & L.M.Perry

Horticultural & Botanical History

Acmena smithii was introduced to Britain in 1790 by Sir Joseph Banks.  Curtis’s Botanical Magazine figured the variety Acmena smithii eliptica.  [BM t.1872/1816].  ‘However beautiful and striking this plant [Acmena floribunda] (native of New South Wales) may be, loaded, too, as our tree, above twenty feet high, is, with its charming clusters of bright purple berries, its flowers are quite unattractive, and perhaps amongst the smallest and inconspicuous of all the Myrtle tribe.  These flowers appear, like those of many other Australian trees and shrubs, in the winter season, and the berries succeed them in the early spring, causing the extremities of the slender branches to bend down by their weight.  The tree is too large, however, for successful cultivation in an ordinary greenhouse, but well suited to our winter garden.  De Candolle, I think with justice, refers Sir James Smith’s Eugenia elliptica to this species, considering it a variety with white berries and broader foliage, depending on the paler or almost white colour of the berries.  This Eugenia elliptica is figured by Sims in the ‘Botanical Magazine,’ 1. c.; but the figure does not do justice to the species, and is destitute of flowers, while, on the other hand, the fruit was unknown to Ventenat, who has well represented a flowering specimen.’  [BM t.5480/1864].

History at Camden Park

Listed in all published catalogues [T.19/1843].

Notes

The Lillypilly is an Australian bush food of some economic importance.