Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Ericales Bercht. & J.Presl
Family
Ericaceae
Genus
Dracophyllum Labill.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Dracophyllum trimorphum W.R.B.Oliv., Trans. Roy. Soc. New Zealand 80: 8 (1952)
Synonymy:
Type: New Zealand. West Whanganui Inlet, near shore in shrub, 28 Dec. 1949. W.R.B. Oliver s.n. (holo: WELT 55515a!; iso: WELT 55515b, WELT 55515c!, WELT 55516a!, WELT 55516b!, WELT 55516c!, WELT 55516d!, WELT 55516e!, WELT 55516f!, WELT 55516 g!).
Etymology:
Refers to the three distinct growth stages of the species.
 Description

Erect, up to c. 3m. tall; branches stout, bark greyish; branchlets ∞, slender; bark grey to dark brown. Lvs crowded towards tips of branchlets. Sheath 5–6 × 2 mm., ciliolate, rather abruptly narrowed to lamina 40–45 × 2.5–3 mm., minutely pubescent on both surfaces, canaliculate, ascending, gradually narrowed to pungent apex; margins very minutely serrulate. Fls solitary or in 2–3-fld racemes, bracts lflike. Sepals narrow-ovate, acicular; corolla-tube ± 4 mm. long, lobes white, ovate. Anthers slightly exserted; capsule truncate.

[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. 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.