Species

Fuchsia excorticata

Etymology

Fuchsia: after Leonhart Fuchs (17 Jan 1501 - 10 May 1566), a German physician and regarded as one of the three founding fathers of botany.
excorticata: loose-barked

Common Name(s)

kotukutuku, tree Fuchsia

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

Fuchsia excorticata (J.R.Forst. et G.Forst.) L.f.

Family

Onagraceae

Brief Description

Spreading small tree with thin flaky orange bark and bearing thin pointed leaves that are white underneath. Leaves up to 10mm long by 1.5-3cm wide, margin with small teeth, deciduous in southern areas. Flower colourful, in clusters from trunk or branches. Fruit dark purple, blunt at tip and base.

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

NVS Species Code

FUCEXC

The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Trees & Shrubs

Flower Colours

Green,Violet / Purple

Threats

Not Threatened

Chromosome No.

2n = 22

Endemic Taxon

Yes

Endemic Genus

No

Endemic Family

No

Life Cycle and Dispersal

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

References and further reading

Thorsen, M. J.; Dickinson, K. J. M.; Seddon, P. J. 2009. Seed dispersal systems in the New Zealand flora. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 11: 285-309

This page last updated on 25 Sep 2014