Ramarama

The ramarama is the largest and most attractive of the New Zealand myrtles: it varies from a dwarf shrub to a small tree 30ft. in height, but is easily distinguished from all other indigenous plants by its reddish-brown leaves, the spaces between the veins of which are tumid or inflated, presenting a singular appearance, as if blistered.

L. bullata (ramarama) is a beautiful shrub or small tree growing to about 5m.

He mentioned a ramarama tree - this, he explained, was not the ramarama, or pepper-tree, of Murihiku, but was a tree like the rohutu, bearing black berries like the konini (fuchsia).

When John-Paul Oliver reported his myrtle rust-infected ramarama tree to authorities, they sent him plastics bags and a wool fadge and told him to remove it himself.