Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Rosales Bercht. & J.Presl
Family
Rhamnaceae
Genus
Discaria Hook.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Discaria toumatou Raoul, Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot. sér. 3, 2: 123 (1844)
Synonymy:
  • = Discaria australis var. apetala Hook.f., Bot. Antarct. Voy. II. (Fl. Nov.-Zel.) Part I, 47 (1852)
  • = Notophaena toumatou Miers (1860)
Etymology:
The epithet toumatou is a corruption of the Maori word tūmatakuru, a Maori name for the plant.
Vernacular Name(s):
Matagouri; Tūmatakuri; Tūmatakuru; Tūturi; Wild Irishman
 Description

Much-branched ± deciduous spiny shrub or tree up to 5 m. or more tall; branches divaricate, stiff; branchlets terete, green, ± flexible. Secondary lateral branchlets stiff, short, or reduced to spines up to ± 5 cm. long. Lvs opp. or in opp. fascicles, rarely absent, (5)–10–20 × (2)–5 mm., narrow-obovate to obovate-oblong, coriac., obtuse, ± glossy above. Fls in few-fld cymose fascicles to solitary, ± 3–5 mm. diam., on short puberulous pedicels. Sepals 4–5, greenish to clear white, reflexed; petals 0. Fr. c. 5 mm. diam., globose, us. deeply 3-lobed.

[From: Allan (1961) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 1.]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Phenology

Flowering: Oct.–Jan.; Fruiting: Dec.–Mar.

 Bibliography
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. [Declining]
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]
Hooker, J.D. 1852–1853 ("1853"): The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H.M. Discovery Ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839–1843, under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross. II. Flora Novae-Zelandiae. Part I. Flowering plants. Lovell Reeve, London.
Raoul, E. 1844: Choix de plantes de la Nouvelle-Zélande. Recueillies et décrites par M.E. Raoul. Annales des Sciences Naturelles; Botanique sér. 3, 2: 113–123.