Flowers : gynodioecious. perfect flowers, solitary or more-or-less tightly grouped on shortened side shoots, sometimes appearing cauliflorous, pedicels slender, drooping in bud and flower, divergent or ascending in fruit, 5.5 to 15 mm long, ovary 4.5 to 8 mm long, 1.7 to 3 mm thick, green, floral tube 11 to 22 mm long, 3 to 5 mm wide at the bulbous base (lined by smooth nectariferous tissue inside), sharply constricted above to 1.4 to 2.5 mm in diameter, then enlarged until 4 to 10 mm wide at the rim, with four antepetalous ridges, sepals narrow-triangular, 8 to 19 mm long, 3 to 6 mm wide at base, spreading or occasionally reflexed. tube and sepals lustrous green at anthesis, with dull purple streaks in upper parts between the ridges of the tube, both changing more-or-lee abruptly to red-crimson about halfway through anthesis. petals, dark purple, (narrowly) elliptic or lanceolate, 1.85 mm long, 0.7 to 2.1 mm wide in the middle, acute or obtuse at apex, filaments 6 to 15 mm and 5 to 10 mm long, light to dark purple, pale cream on connective to anthers. anthers 1.8 to 2.5 mm long, 1 to 1.7 mm thick, purple, style glabrous, 22 to 40 mm long, purple in exserted part and greenish below, stigma capitate, 1.8 to 2.2 mm long, 1.4 to 2.1 mm wide, yellow-green. pistillate flowers, similar to perfect ones except: pedicels 4.5 to 8.5 mm long. Ovary 4 to 6 mm long, 2 to 2.5 mm wide. floral tube 6.5 to 13 mm long, 4 to 6 mm in diameter at rim. sepals 5.5 to 8 mm long, 2.2 to 3.5 mm wide at base. petals 1.2 to 2.6 mm long, 0.35 to 1 mm wide. filaments 2 to 4 mm and 1.2 to 3.5 mm long. anthers aborted, 0.8 to 1.2 mm long, 0.6 to 0.9 mm wide. style 18 to 23 mm long.
Flower size :
Flower display :
Flower bud :
Fruit : oblong-ellipsoid, 9-13mm long x 5-8mm wide, dark purple
Seed : oblong-triangular, 0.75-1mm long x 0.3-0.6 mm wide, tan, 320-670, but mostly around 500 seeds per berry
Habit : large shrub or tree, winter deciduous in most of its range, trunk generally irregular, more-or-less twisted, to 70 cm in diameter, branching within several meters of the base to form a broad, spreading canopy, bark coppery light brown and papery, peeling off readily in patches or large strips, with a smooth, green cambial layer beneath the outer layers
Hardiness:
Height : 2-13 m
Light/Climate :
Optimal light conditions :
Remarks : tree Fuchsia or Kotukutuku (Maori), flowering is mostly from August to December, but occasionally from as early as June or July, and as late as the end of January. The berries are often known by their Maori name, konini.
Named :
Lookalikes :
Year (of first description) : 1781
Botanist : Forster J.R. & G.
Authors : J. R. & G. Forster 1781
Original publication : Suppl. Pl. 217 1782
Habitat : widespread all over North Island, South Island, and Stewart Island of New Zealand but rare on Auckland and Chatham Islands, and found in lowland to upper montane forest, especially along margins and near streams
Elevation : 0-1050
Native country : New Zealand
Synonyms : Skinnera excorticata J. R. & G. Forster
Gametic chromosome number n = 11
FOLIAGE
Leaves : alternate, thick-membranous,strongly bicolored, petiole 9 to 40 mm long, subglabrous to strigulose above, stipules lanceolate, purplish, 1.5 to 4 mm long, 0.3 to 0.8 mm wide, drying out from the tip down, caducous.
Foliage color upper side : medium to dark green
Foliage color lower side : silvery white or occasionally suffused with red, glabrous to strigulose along the margins and veins beneath
Leaf dimensions : (35-) 45-130mm long x (15-) 25-55mm wide
