The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Species

Androstoma empetrifolium

Common Name(s)

None known

Current Conservation Status

2012 - Not Threatened

Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2012 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2009 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, Paul D. Champion, Shannel P. Courtney, Peter B. Heenan, John W. Barkla, Ewen K. Cameron, David A. Norton and Rodney A. Hitchmough. File size: 792KB

Previous Conservation Status

2009 - Not Threatened
2004 - Not Threatened

Authority

Androstoma empetrifolium Hook.f.

Family

Ericaceae

Brief Description

Low-growing sprawling reddish shrub. Leaves spreading, small, curved, appearing blunt, reddish or dark green above (somewhat pubescent), undersides 3-veined (veins parallel), white, pubescent. Flower small, white, tubular, single or in small clusters. Fruit fleshy, white, pink or red, ovoid

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

NVS Species Code

ANDEMP

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Trees & Shrubs

Synonyms

Cyathodes empetrifolia (Hook.f.) Hook.f., Styphelia taxifolia Sleumer, Styphelia androstoma F.Muell. (nom. illegit.), Styphelia hookeri F.Muell. (nom. illegit.)

Distribution

Endemic. North, South, Stewart, Chatham, Auckland and Campbell islands, from Te Moehau and Mt Pirongia south.

Habitat

Coastal to alpine (montane to alpine in northern part of range otherwise extending to sea level). A species of open shrubland, tussock grassland, peat bogs and other poorly drained sites, as well as mixed alpine and subalpine herbfield. It is also frequently found on ridgelines on poorly draining, skeletal soils and on rock outcrops.

Features

Prostrate, semi-prostrate (decumbent) sometimes trailing, widely spreading woody shrubs up to 1.0 × 0.2 m. Stems spreading, brown, grey-brown or red-brown; branchlets red-brown, yellow-brown or brown, ribbed, pubescent. Leaves dark green, bronze-green, maroon adaxially, abaxially pubescent, alternate, evenly spaced, ± spreading, erect or reflexed, shedding along branchlets, and absent on main stems; petiolate, petiole erect, ± appressed, 0.5-0.9 mm long, glabrous; lamina linear, 2.3-4.8 × 0.6-1.1 mm, coriaceous, convex (rarely flat); apex obtuse surmounted by a minute callus; margin recurved, glabrous or ciliate; adaxially ± glossy, glabrous or finely pubescent; abaxially pubescent with hairs either confined to interveinal grooves or pubescent overall, striate, veins 3 parallel, conspicuous, abaxially strongly ribbed. Plants hermaphrodite. Inflorescences terminal, 1-3-flowered,terminating in a rudimentary bud. Flowers pendulous, subtended by a single bract and 2 prominently keeled bracteoles, not pedicellate above bracteoles so appearing spicate; pedicel 0.4-1 mm long; bract, bracteoles, and sepals ovate or oblong, obtuse, glabrous or rarely puberulent outside; bract 0.5-0.9 × 0.5 mm, margin ciliolate; bracteoles non-imbricate, uniform in size, 0.8-1.5 × 0.7-1 mm, conspicuously striate particularly when dry, margin ciliate; sepals 1.3-1.9 × 0.8-1.1 mm, margin ciliate, bearing stomata on the adaxial surface (with a few present within hair-bearing clefts on the abaxial surface). Corolla tube equal or shorter than calyx, thin, campanulate, 1.1-1.6 mm long, inner portion of tube glabrous; lobes spreading, acute, equalling the tube, 1.0-1.5 mm long, sparsely puberulent to puberulent towards apices. Anthers emarginate, 0.3-0.5 mm long, apically attached by a short thin filament inserted just below sinus of corolla tube; the filaments exserted, 0.3-0.5 mm long. Ovary 3-4-locular, spherical to ovoid, glabrous, 0.5-1.0 × 0.5-0.8 mm wide; style straight, glabrous, 0.5-0.8 mm long; stigma 0.1 mm long exserted. Nectary annular deeply lobed, occasionally comprised of distinct scales, these 0.2-0.4 mm tall, glabrous. Fruit red (occasionally white or pink), 2.0-3.0 × 1.5-2 mm, glabrous. Endocarp 1.6-2.3 × 1.6-2.1 mm, brown, orange to ornage-brown, broadly elliptic to ovoid, obscurely 3-angled, often longitudinally ridged, somewhat granular.

Similar Taxa

None.

Flowering

November - January

Fruiting

January - August

Propagation Technique

Difficult. Should not be removed from the wild

Threats

Not Threatened

Chromosome No.

2n = 24

Endemic Taxon

Yes

Endemic Genus

No

Endemic Family

No

Life Cycle and Dispersal

Fleshy drupes are dispersed by frugivory (Thorsen et al., 2009).

This page last updated on 19 Nov 2014