Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Apiales Nakai
Family
Pittosporaceae R.Br.
Genus
Pittosporum Banks & Sol. ex Gaertn.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Pittosporum colensoi Hook.f., Bot. Antarct. Voy. II. (Fl. Nov.-Zel.) Part I, 22 (1852)
Synonymy:
  • ≡ Pittosporum tenuifolium subsp. colensoi (Hook.f.) Kirk, Trans. New Zealand Inst. 4: 262 (1872)
  • = Pittosporum buchananii Hook.f., Handb. New Zealand Fl. 725 (1867)
  • = Pittosporum huttonianum var. viridifolium Kirk, Stud. Fl. New Zealand (1899)
Vernacular Name(s):
Rautāwhiri
 Description

Tree up to ± 10 m. tall, trunk up to ± 4 dm. diam., bark very dark, branches stouter than in P. tenuifolium. Lvs alt. on short stout petioles. Lamina elliptic- to lanceolate- to obovate-oblong, us. acute, ± 4–10 × 2–5 cm., coriac., dark green above, paler below; margins flat. Fls axillary, solitary or occ. in few-fld cymes, on short stout ± pubescent peduncles. Bracts somewhat persistent. Sepals broad-oblong, ± pubescent; petals dark to very dark red. Capsules ± globose, c. 12 mm. diam.; valves woody, thick, rugulose.

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

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Phenology

Flowering: Nov.–Dec.; Fruiting: Jan.–Apr.

 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]
Hooker, J.D. 1852–1853 ("1853"): The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H.M. Discovery Ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839–1843, under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross. II. Flora Novae-Zelandiae. Part I. Flowering plants. Lovell Reeve, London.
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.
Kirk, T. 1872: On the New Zealand species of Pittosporum, with Descriptions of New Species. Transactions of the New Zealand Institute 4: 260–267.
Kirk,T. 1899: The Students' Flora of New Zealand and the Outlying Islands. Government Printer, Wellington, N.Z.