Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Ericales Bercht. & J.Presl
Family
Ericaceae
Genus
Dracophyllum Labill.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Dracophyllum patens W.R.B.Oliv., Trans. New Zealand Inst. 59: 698 (1928)
Synonymy:
Type: New Zealand. Great Barrier Island, summit of Mount Hobson, 8 Dec. 1916. W.R.B. Oliver s.n. (holo: WELT 33296!).
Etymology:
Named for the leaves that spread nearly 90 degrees with the stem axis.
 Description

Small robust shrub; lvs ascending, becoming patent. Sheath 8–10 × 3–4 mm. with scarious margins, narrowed to thick subulate lamina (35)–40 × 6–6·5 mm., acute, very minutely serrulate. Racemes (2)–5–6-fld, terminal on lateral branchlets bearing a tuft of lvs just below infl. Lowest bracts lflike; sheath 3–4 mm. long, ciliate on shoulder, lamina ± 15 mm. long, ciliolate, ± pubescent near sheath. Sepals broad, acute, sparingly ciliolate. Corolla-tube c. 4 mm. long, subcampanulate; style stout, c. 2 mm. long; capsule ± 2 mm. diam.

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

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Bibliography
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]
Oliver, W.R.B. 1928: The New Zealand species of Metrosideros with a note on Metrosideros collina (Forst.) Gray. Transactions of the New Zealand Institute 59: 419–423.
Venter, S. 2021: A taxonomic revision of the Australasian genera Dracophyllum and Richea (Richeeae: Styphelioideae: Ericaceae). Australian Systematic Botany 34: 1–205.