Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Asterales Link
Family
Alseuosmiaceae
Genus
Alseuosmia A.Cunn.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Alseuosmia quercifolia A.Cunn., Ann. Nat. Hist. 2 (1839)
Synonymy:
  • = Alseuosmia ×quercifolia A.Cunn. (1839)
  • = Alseuosmia ilex A.Cunn., Ann. Nat. Hist. 2: 210 (1939)
 Description

Slender, sparingly branched shrub up to 2.5 m tall. Old stems dark reddish brown; branchlets spreading; bracts present; stems and petioles of new growth distinctively crimson-red. Fine ginger hairs present in leaf axils. Leaves on rather slender, crimson-red, or occasionally pale brown petioles 1 cm long becoming reddish brown with age; lamina submembranous, ovate-elliptic, linear-lanceolate, moderately shiny, bright mid green above with a pale mid-vein, glaucous below; margins sub-entire, weakly dentate to coarsely and distantly lobed, the different forms occasionally on the same plant. Inflorescence of 2-6 fascicles or flowers solitary. Peduncle slender, 5 mm long, greenish, bracteolate. Calyx lobes (3-)5(-6), triangular, acute. Flowers hermaphrodite, very fragrant, protandrous; corolla tube (7.7-)11(--13.7) mm long, slightly flaring, cream, creamy green, pale dusky pink, dark dusky pink, and variations of these; lobes (3-)5(-6), acute, often recurved and often with fimbriate margins. Style slender, cream to pink, glabrous; stigma clavate, usually exserted. Anthers creamy white on short filaments inserted in corolla throat, dehiscing longitudinally and curving outwards after dehiscence. Pollen grains 3-aperturate, colporate. Berry ellipsoid, dark plum-red when ripe, 2.8- 9.7 mm long. Seeds with bony reticulate testa, endospermic, angular. Ovary 2-locular, glabrous; ovules 1-15 per locule; placentation axile. FL Sep-Oct; FT Mar-May.

[Reproduced from Merrett & Clarkson (2000, New Zealand J. Bot. 38: 153-164) with permission from The Royal Society of New Zealand.]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Phenology

Flowering: Aug.–Jul.

 Bibliography
Cunningham, A. 1839: Florae insularum Novae Zelandiae precursor; or a specimen of the botany of the islands of New Zealand. Annals of Natural History 2: 125–132.
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Barkla J.W.; Courtney, S.P.; Champion, P.D.; Perrie, L.R.; Beadel, S.N.; Ford, K.A.; Breitwieser, I.; Schönberger, I.; Hindmarsh-Walls, R.; Heenan, P.B.; Ladley, K. 2018: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017. New Zealand Threat Classification Series. No. 22. [Not Threatened]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Champion, P.D.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Norton, D.A.; Hitchmough, R.A. 2013: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 3. Department of Conservation, Wellington. [Not Threatened]
Gardner, R.O. 1978: The species of Alseuosmia (Alseuosmiaceae). New Zealand Journal of Botany 16: 271–277.
Merrett, M.F.; Clarkson, B. D. 2000: Reinstatement of Alseuosmia quercifolia (Alseuosmiaceae) from New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 38(2): 153–164.