Flowers : subdioecious. flowers axillary and erect on pedicels 3 to 10 mm high. staminate or perfect flowers: ovary cylindrical, 3 to 6 mm long, 2 to 2.8 mm thick, green and pruinous, quadrilocular, each locule with 15 to 55 more-or-less biseriate ovules, floral tube cylindrical, 7 to 11 mm long, 5.2 to 7.5 mm wide at the rim, light green in bud, pale orange-yellow at anthesis, in some cases turning slightly darker with age, nectary 2 to 4 mm high, lustrous yellow-orange, sepals lanceolate, acute, 7 to 9 mm long, 2.7 to 3.8 mm wide at the base, completely reflexed soon after anthesis, light to dark purple on the exposed, inner surface except at the green base, green on the hidden, outer side, petals absent, filaments equal or subequal, 3.5 to 5 mm and 3.2 to 4.5 mm long, pink to red or yellow near base, anthers oblong, dorsifixed, 1.5 to 2.4 mm long, 1 to 1.5 mm wide, purple, style included or exserted beyond the tube, 6 to 9 (to 14) mm long, pale pink, stigma capitate, 0.4 to 1 mm thick, yellow-green or dull brown, or style acephalous and stigma non-functional. pistillate flowers, similar to staminate flowers, except: ovary 5 to 8 mm long, floral tube 5.5 to 9 mm long, 3.8 to 4 mm wide at the rim. sepals 4.1 to 6.4 mm long, 2.2 to 2.8 mm wide at the base, filaments 1.6 to 2.7 mm and 1.6 to 2.4 mm long, red-purple, anthers sterile, 0.85 to 1.05 mm long, 0.4 to 0.7 mm wide, pink, style exserted, 7 to 15 mm long, stigma capitate and four-angled, 1.1 to 2.2 mm long, 1.8 to 2.5 mm wide, yellow-green, ovules 50 to 230 per ovary, biseriate in each locule
Flower size :
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Flower bud :
Fruit : ovoid-oblong to obovoid or subglobose, somewhat four-angled, 10-25mm long x 8-16mm wide, bright red to magenta when ripe with a light purple, pruinous wax, fruiting pedicel 5-23mm long, ovary wall firm, not becoming juicy or succulent at maturity, locules hollow
Seed : tan, biseriate, oblong to (ob-) ovoid, 1.7-2.8mm long x 1.3-1.6mm wide, rugulose, 20-80 per berry
Habit : densely branched, procumbent subshrubs, with slender, trailing main stems 1 to 2 ( to 8) mm thick, to 2 meters long, often rooting along the ground and with exfoliating bark when old, young branchlets very slender and glabrous, ascending near the tips, sometimes scandent on tree trunks or in dense brush
Hardiness:
Height :
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Optimal light conditions :
Remarks : flowering period is from October to March
Named :
Lookalikes :
Year (of first description) : 1839
Botanist : Cunningham R.
Authors : R. Cunningham ex A. Cunningham 1839. Goodley & Berry 1995
Original publication : Ann. Nat. Hist. 3: 31 1839
Habitat : a scarce plant in small populations along the far northern coast of the North Island of New Zealand, often associated with Metrosideros excelsa (Pohutukawa or New Zealand Christmas Tree) coastal forests or growing among Phormium tenax (New Zealand Flax) or Cyperus ustulatus (Giant Umbrella Sedge) from North Cape to Maunganui Bluff on the west coast and to the northern Coromandel Peninsula on the east coast
Elevation : 0-150
Native country : New Zealand
Synonyms :
Gametic chromosome number n = 11
FOLIAGE
Leaves : alternate, firm-membranous, petioles slender, strigulose, longer than the blade, 5 to 50 mm long, stipules minute, narrowly lanceolate, 0.3 to 0.9 mm long, ca. 0.2 mm wide at the base, caducous
Foliage color upper side : pale green to purple-flushed
Foliage color lower side : slightly paler green to purple-flushed
Leaf dimensions : 5-28mm long x 3-27mm wide
Leaf shape : suborbicular to broadly ovate
Leaf margin : sinuate to serrulate with prominent glandular teeth, strigulose along the nerves
Leaf tip : obtuse to rounded
Leaf base : subcordate to truncate
Pubescence :
Veins : secondary veins (3 to) 4 or 5 (to 6) per side, lower order venation inconspicuous