Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Apiales Nakai
Family
Araliaceae
Genus
Schefflera J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Schefflera digitata J.R.Forst. & G.Forst., Char. Gen. Pl., ed. 2. 46 (1776)
Synonymy:
  • = Aralia schefflerea Spreng. (1813)
  • = Schefflera cunninghami Miq., Linnaea 18: 89 (1844) – as cunninghamii
Vernacular Name(s):
Kohi; Kotētē; Patate; Patē; Patētē; Seven-finger
 Description

Tree up to 8 m. tall, branches stout. Lvs digitately 3–9-foliolate on sheathing petioles up to 25 cm. long; petiolules up to 2 cm. long; lamina obovate-cuneate, acuminate to obtuse, membr., sharply serrate; terminal lflt with lamina up to 20 cm. long (lvs of juvenile plants, especially in northern part of range, often irregularly lobulate to pinnatifid). Panicle-branches ∞, spreading, up to 35 cm. long; bracts and bractlets small. Umbels ∞, up to 10-fld; peduncles subsessile to c. 1 cm. long, pedicels shorter. Fls greenish, c. 7 mm. diam. Fr. subglobose, dark violet, c. 3·5 mm. diam., fleshy, grooved when dry.

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

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Phenology

Fruiting: Feb.–Mar.

 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]
Forster, J.R.; Forster, G. 1776: Characteres Generum Plantarum quas in Itinere ad Insulas Maris Australis Collegerunt, Descripserunt, Delinearunt, Annis. Edition 2. White, Cadell & Elmsley, London.
Linnaea