Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Ericales Bercht. & J.Presl
Family
Ericaceae
Genus
Dracophyllum Labill.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Dracophyllum oliveri Du Rietz, Svensk Bot. Tidskr. 24: 374 (1930)
Synonymy:
Type: New Zealand. Mount Rochfort, 1800 feet [~548 m], 5 Feb. 1913. D. Petrie s.n. (holo: WELT 33022!; iso: WELT 33021!, WELT 33025!).
Etymology:
Named for Dr R. W. B. Oliver (1883–1957), Director of the Dominion Museum in Wellington who completed two major publications on Dracophyllum.
 Description

Erect, up to c. 2 m. tall; branches with blackish bark; branchlets slender, ascending, becoming nude below, bark greyish. Lvs narrow-subulate; sheaths 5–8 × (2)–3–4 mm., abruptly narrowed to truncate subauricled shoulder. Lamina minutely pubescent, becoming glab., rigid, 4–5–(7) cm. × 1·5–2 mm., tapering gradually to subpungent apex; margins minutely pubescent. Fls in erect, often clustered, 5–10-fld racemes on short lateral branches. Bracts caducous; lower lflike up to 25 mm. long, subpersistent; upper c. 5 × 3 mm., broad-ovate, suddenly narrowed to subulate blunt apex. Sepals persistent, c. 6 mm. long, ovate-acuminate. Corolla-tube 3–4 mm. long; lobes spreading, subacute, ± reflexed. Capsule c. 5 mm. diam.

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

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 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. [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]
Du Rietz, G.E. 1930: The fundamental units of biological taxonomy. Svensk Botanisk Tidskrift 24: 333–428.
Venter, S. 2021: A taxonomic revision of the Australasian genera Dracophyllum and Richea (Richeeae: Styphelioideae: Ericaceae). Australian Systematic Botany 34: 1–205.