The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Species

Acrothamnus colensoi

Etymology

colensoi: Named after William Colenso (7 November 1811 - 10 February 1899) who was a Cornish Christian missionary to New Zealand, and also a printer, botanist, explorer and politician.

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

Acrothamnus colensoi (Hook.f.) C.J.Quinn

Family

Ericaceae

Brief Description

Low-growing sprawling much-branched to weakly branched shrub (branches often subscandent). Leaves spreading, small bronze-green, pinkish green, glaucescent to dark red-brown with pale yellow margins, striped white beneath. Leaf margins finely hairy otherwise leaves glabrous. Flowers in small subterminal to terminal racemes, white. Fruit globose, glossy, white, pink, red crimson to almost black, fleshy.

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

NVS Species Code

ACRCOL

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Trees & Shrubs

Synonyms

Leucopogon colensoi Hook.f., Leucopogon suaveolens Hook.f., Cyathodes colensoi (Hook.f.) Hook.f.

Distribution

Endemic. New Zealand: North and South Islands from about Kaingaroa Plain south.

Habitat

Montane to alpine extending to lower altitudes in shrubland, tussock grassland and peat bogs in the southern part of its range

Features

Dioecious (?gynodioecious) sprawling, prostrate, glaucescent pinkish green to red-brown shrubs forming much-branched to unevenly, sparingly-branched almost lianoid patches, 0.2-0.5 × 1.0-2.0 m. Branches spreading, ascending to erect, weakly ribbed to ± terete, grey-brown, unevenly pubescent but becoming glabrous with age. Leaves alternate, spreading, glabrous, bronze-green, pinkish green, glaucescent to dark red-brown with pale yellow margins, abaxially distinctly 3-5-nerved but veins not or scarcely raised above surface, veins greenish, interveinal grooves white; lamina 5-10 × 1-4 mm, narrow-oblong, oblong, concavo-convex; margins distinctly thickened, ± recurved, initially finely ciliolate, soon glabrous; apex obtuse, apiculate to mucronulate. Inflorescences near ends of branches, terminal, and/or in upper axils; racemose, 2-5-flowered, terminating in a bud-like rudiment. Flowers subtended by a bract and 2 keeled bracteoles; bract pinkish green to red, up to 2.5 mm long, glaucescent, broadly ovate, obtuse, ciliolate; bracteoles similar but smaller and distinctly keeled. Sepals up to 4 mm long, elliptic-oblong to ovate, obtuse, ciliolate, similar but smaller, imbricate with stomata only on the adaxial surface. Flowers seemingly unisexual, 6-8 mm long; corolla tube 4-5 mm long, hairy toward lobes; corolla-lobes 2.8-3.3 mm long, both surfaces copiously covered in hairs in distal half. Anthers emarginate, 0.4-0.6 mm long, apically attached by a short thin filament inserted near base of corolla tube sinus; the filaments ± exserted to almost hidden within tube, 0.3-0.5 mm long. Ovary 4-5-locular, spheriodal, glabrous, 0.5-1.0 × 0.5-0.8 mm wide; style straight, glabrous, 0.8-1.8 mm long; stigma 0.1 mm long usually immersed in tube, rarely partially exserted. Fruit, white, pink, red, dark crimson (rarely almost black), 4-5 mm diameter, globose. Endocarp 2.5-3.5 × 2.2-3.0 mm, pale brown, brown to orange-brown, broadly obovate, broadly ellipsoid to ovoid, indistinctly, longitudinally ridged 5×, surface somewhat granular.

Similar Taxa

Very superficially similar to Montitega, which differs by having narrow-oblong to narrow-elliptic; adaxially glaucous to dark brown-green, abaxially white, leaves whose margins are slightly thickened towards the base, and whose flowers are solitary rather than in racemes.

Flowering

September - February

Flower Colours

White,Yellow

Fruiting

November - June

Propagation Technique

Difficult. Should not be removed from the wild.

Threats

Not Threatened

Chromosome No.

2n = 146

Endemic Taxon

Yes

Endemic Genus

No

Endemic Family

No

Life Cycle and Dispersal

Fleshy berries by bird, reptile and invertebrate herbivory (Thorsen et al. 2009).

This page last updated on 19 Nov 2014