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Manual of the New Zealand Flora.
2. Aristotelia, L'Herit
2. Aristotelia, L'Herit.
Shrubs or trees. Leaves opposite or nearly so, entire or toothed, exstipulate. Flowers small, unisexual, axillary or lateral, racemose or rarely solitary. Sepals 4–5, valvate. Petals the same number, 3-lobed, toothed or entire, inserted round the base of the thickened torus. Stamens numerous or 4–5, inserted on the torus. Ovary 2–4-celled; ovules 2 in each cell; styles subulate. Fruit a berry. Seeds ascending or pendulous, often pulpy on the outside of the hard testa.
A small genus of 9 species, 3 of which are found in Australia, 1 in the New Hebrides, 2 in South America, and the 3 following in New Zealand.
Leaves large, membranous. Racemes panicled, many-flowered 1. A. racemosa. Leaves large, not so membranous as the preceding. Racemes simple or only slightly compound 2. A. Colensoi. Leaves small, coriaceous. Flowers few together or solitary 3. A. fruticosa.
| 1. | A. racemosa, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 33.—A small graceful tree 8–25 ft. high; bark of young branches red, becoming darker with age; branchlets, young leaves, petioles, and inflorescence pubescent. Leaves opposite or nearly so, 2–5 in. long, ovate or ovate-cordate, acuminate, thin and membranous, deeply and irregularly acutely serrate, often reddish beneath; petioles long and slender. Flowers small, ⅙ in. diam., rose-coloured, in many-flowered axillary panicles, diœcious; the males rather larger than the females; pedicels slender. Petals 4, 3-lobed at the tip, smaller in the female flowers. Stamens numerous, minutely hairy; anthers longer than the filaments. Female flowers: Ovary 3–4-celled; styles the same number. Fruit a 3–4-celled berry about the size of a pea, dark-red or almost black. Seeds usually about 8, angular.—Handb. N.Z. Fl. 33; T. Kirk, Forest Fl. t. 113; Students' Fl. 75. Friesia racemosa, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 603; Raoul, Choix de Plantes, 48; Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 601.
North and South Islands, Stewart Island: Common in lowland forests throughout, ascending to nearly 2000 ft. Makomako, wineberry. September–November. An abundant and well-known plant, usually the first to appear after the forest has been cut down. The wood is largely employed for making charcoal for the manufacture of gunpowder. page 84 |
| 2. | A. Colensoi, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 33.—A shrub or small tree 6–15 ft. high, very similar in general appearance to A. racemosa, but the leaves are firmer in texture, sometimes narrower and ovate-lanceolate, usually quite glabrous, green below. Racemes simple, rarely compound, few-flowered. Berry smaller, the size of a peppercorn.—Kirk, Students' Fl. 75.
North Island: Wairarapa Valley, Colenso! South Island: Subalpine forests from Nelson to Otago, apparently not common. A puzzling plant. There is an unnamed specimen of old date in Mr. Colenso's herbarium which agrees perfectly with Hooker's description; but all the South Island specimens that I have seen have broader and less acuminate leaves. Probably all are nothing more than forms of A. racemosa. |
| 3. | A. fruticosa, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 34.—A very variable much-branched erect or decumbent shrub 3–8 ft. high; branches often close and rigid; bark red-brown; branchlets, petioles, and pedicels pubescent. Leaves excessively variable, of young plants linear or lanceolate, ½–1½ in. long, acute or acuminate, toothed lobed or pinnatifid; on mature plants ¼–1 in. long, ovate-obovate or oblong-obovate or linear-oblong, obtuse, coriaceous, entire crenate serrate or shortly lobed; petioles short, stout. Flowers small, axillary, solitary or in 3–6-flowered racemes or cymes; pedicels short, pubescent. Sepals 4, oblong, obtuse, pubescent. Petals 4, shorter or longer than the sepals, entire or with 1–4 irregular shallow notches at the apex. Stamens 4–6; filaments very short. Berry very small, globose. Seeds usually 4.—Handb. N.Z. Fl. 33; Kirk, Students' Fl. 75. A. erecta, Buch. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. iii. (1871) 209. Myrsine brachyclada, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxii. (1890) 478.
North and South Islands, Stewart Island: Mountainous districts from the Thames southwards, but rare north of the East Cape. Ascends to 4000 ft. One of the most variable plants in New Zealand. There seem to be two well-marked forms—one with an erect and comparatively open habit of growth, larger leaves, and 4–6-flowered racemes, answering to the A. erecta of Buchanan; the other is often decumbent, with rigid and interlaced often tortuous branches, smaller leaves, and frequently solitary flowers. |