Mousehole tree Care

Myoporum laetum, ngaio or mousehole tree, is a plant in the family Scrophulariaceae endemic to New Zealand and Chatham Islands. It is distinguished from others in the genus by the transparent dots in the leaves which are visible when held to a light.

Ngaio is a fast-growing evergreen shrub or small tree which sometimes grows to a height of 10 metres (30 ft) with a trunk up to 0.3 metres (1 ft) in diameter, or spreads to as much as 4 metres (10 ft). It often appears dome-shaped at first but as it gets older, distorts as branches break off. The bark on older specimens is thick, corky and furrowed. The flowers are white with purple spots and are borne in groups of 2 to 6 on stalks 7–15 millimetres (0.3–0.6 in) long. Flowering occurs from mid-spring to mid-summer and is followed by the fruit which is a bright red drupe 6–9 millimetres (0.2–0.4 in) long. The specific epithet is derived from the "Latin laetum, pleasant or bright".