Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Ericales Bercht. & J.Presl
Family
Ericaceae
Genus
Dracophyllum Labill.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Dracophyllum traversii Hook.f., Handb. New Zealand Fl. 736 (1867)
Synonymy:
Type: New Zealand. Middle Island, Nelson Province, Arthur’s top, subalpine, 3000 feet [914 m], Oct. 1865. W.T.L. Travers & J. Haast 337 (holo: K!; iso: CHR 236852!, K!).
  • = Dracophyllum pyramidale W.R.B.Oliv., Trans. Roy. Soc. New Zealand 80: 16 (1952)
Type: NewZealand. Summit of Little Barrier Island, 8 Oct. 1928, W.R.B. Oliver s.n. (holo: WELT 48615!).
Etymology:
Named after William Thomas Locke Travers (1819–1903), lawyer and botanical explorer who made a special study of the flora of Nelson, Marlborough and Canterbury.
Vernacular Name(s):
Large neinei; Mountain neinei; Neinei
 Description

Tree to 10–(13) m. tall; trunk to 6 dm. diam.; branches stout with smooth dark brown to almost black bark; branchlets rather stout, dark reddish brown. Sheaths ± 3 cm. long, gradually tapering into coriac. lamina narrowing regularly into subfiliform tip, ± 3–6 dm. × 4–5 cm.; margins smooth to very obscurely serrulate-crenulate. Panicle stout, terminal, strict, narrow-oblong; branches suberect, puberulous. Bracts close-set, obtuse, glab. or nearly so, ± orbicular. Fls subsessile, crowded; sepals oblong, us. glab., ± orbicular. Corolla rather broadly campanulate; tube ± = sepals, lobes reflexed. Anthers ± exserted. Styles stout; capsule ± 3 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]
Druce, A.P. 1980: Trees, shrubs, and lianes of New Zealand (including wild hybrids): a checklist. Botany Division, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Lower Hutt.
Eagle, A.P. 2006: Eagle's trees & shrubs of New Zealand in colour. Vol. 2 revised. Collins, Auckland.
Hooker, J.D. 1867: 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 Macquarrie's Islands. Part II. Reeve, London.
Oliver, W.R.B. 1952: A revision of the genus Dracophyllum; Supplement. Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand 80: 1–17.
Venter, S. 2021: A taxonomic revision of the Australasian genera Dracophyllum and Richea (Richeeae: Styphelioideae: Ericaceae). Australian Systematic Botany 34: 1–205.