Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Ericales Bercht. & J.Presl
Family
Ericaceae
Genus
Dracophyllum Labill.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Dracophyllum arboreum Cockayne, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 34: 318 (1902)
Synonymy:
Type: New Zealand. Chatham Island, 1901. L. Cockayne s.n. (first-step lecto: WELT, designated by W. R. B. Oliver, Trans.& Proc. Roy. Soc. N.Z. 80(1): 13 (1952); second-step lecto, here designated: WELT 33086!; isolecto: WELT 81570!, WELT 33094!).
  • = Dracophyllum latifolium var. ciliolatum Hook.f., Handb. New Zealand Fl. 736 (1864)
Type: New Zealand. Chatham Islands. W.T.L. Travers s.n. (holo: K000844571).
  • = Dracophyllum scoparium F.Muell., Veg. Chatham Isl. 42 (1864) nom. illeg., non Dracophyllum scoparium Hook.f. 1844
  • = Dracophyllum scoparium var. major Cheeseman, Man. New Zealand Fl. 425 (1906)
Type: New Zealand: Chatham Island. F.A.D. Cox s.n. (lecto: WELT 33097!; isolecto: K!, NY, WELT 33095!), here designated. Cheeseman (1906) mentioned some specimens for his var. major but did not indicate which specimens belonged to which variety. However, it is possible to assign the F. A. D. Cox specimens to var. major according to the protologue (Cheeseman 1906).
Etymology:
Refers to the tree growth habit of the species.
Vernacular Name(s):
Chatham Island grass tree; Chatham Island neinei
 Description

Shrub or tree up to 10 m. tall; branches ± fastigiate, rather stout, bark greyish to almost black; branchlets slender, ascending, bark dark red-brown. Lvs clustered towards tips of branchlets. Sheath 6–10 × 4–5 mm., expanded in upper part then narrowing to rigid coriac. lamina ± 5–8 cm. × 1·5–2 mm., pubescent to almost tomentose, gradually tapering to acicular apex; margins minutely serrulate-crenulate, densely ciliate. Racemes 3–6–(10)-fld, 2–3 cm. long. Bracts persistent, ciliate; lower lflike, sheath 3–4 mm. long, lamina up to c. 2 cm. long. Sepals ovate, acute, ciliate, c. 5 mm. long; corolla-tube campanulate, c. 5 mm. long, lobes obtuse.

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

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Bibliography
Cheeseman, T.F. 1906: Manual of the New Zealand Flora. Government Printer, Wellington.
Cockayne, L. 1902: A short account of the plant-covering of Chatham Island. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 34: 243–325.
de Lange, P.J.; Norton, D.A.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Hitchmough, R.; Townsend, A.J. 2009: Threatened and uncommon plants of New Zealand (2008 revision). New Zealand Journal of Botany 47: 61–96. [Naturally uncommon]
de Lange, P.J.; Norton, D.A.; Heenan, P.B.; Courtney, S.P.; Molloy, B.P.J.; Ogle, C.C.; Rance, B.D. 2004: Threatened and uncommon plants of New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 42(1): 45–76.
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. [Naturally Uncommon]
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. [Naturally Uncommon]
Hooker, J.D. 1864: Handbook of the New Zealand Flora: a systematic description of the native plants of New Zealand and the Chatham, Kermadec's, Lord Auckland's, Campbell's and Macquarie's Islands. Part I. Reeve, London.
Mueller, F.J.H. 1864: The vegetation of the Chatham Islands. Government Printer, Melbourne.
Venter, S. 2021: A taxonomic revision of the Australasian genera Dracophyllum and Richea (Richeeae: Styphelioideae: Ericaceae). Australian Systematic Botany 34: 1–205.