Manual of the New Zealand Flora.
1. Corokia, A. Cunn
1. Corokia, A. Cunn.
Evergreen shrubs; branches straight or tortuous; bark black. Leaves alternate or fascicled, petiolate, entire. Flowers small, hermaphrodite, yellow, in axillary or terminal panicles, racemes, or fascicles. Calyx-tube turbinate; limb 5-lobed, valvate. Petals 5, valvate, furnished with a small scale at the base, silky outside. Stamens 5. Ovary 1–2-celled; style short; stigma almost capitate, 2-lobed. Drupe ovoid or broadly oblong, crowned by the persistent calvx-limb, 1–2-celled; seeds 1 in each cell.
Leaves lanceolate. Flowers in terminal panicles | 1. C. buddleoides. |
Leaves oblong-lanceolate. Flowers in axillary racemes | 2. C. macrocarpa. |
Leaves orbicular or obovate, narrowed into short flat petioles. Flowers in few-flowered fascicles or solitary | 3. C. Cotoneaster. |
1. | C. buddleoides, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 579.—An erect much-branched slender shrub 6–12 ft. high; young branchlets, undersurface of leaves, and inflorescence densely clothed with silvery-white tomentum. Leaves alternate, shortly petioled, 3–6 in. long, lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, coriaceous, dark-green and shining above; veins reticulated. Panicles terminal, leafy at the base. Flowers ¼–⅓ in. diam., yellow. Petals oblong-lanceolate. Drupe oblong, ¼ in. long, dark-red.—Hook. Ic. Plant, t. 424; Raoul, Choix, 46; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 98; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 106; Kirk, Students' Fl. 224.
North Island: Not uncommon in woods from the North Cape as far south as the East Cape. Sea-level to 3000 ft. Korokia-taranga. November–December. |
2. | C. macrocarpa, T. Kirk, Students' Fl. 224.—An erect shrub 15–20 ft. high; branches stout, spreading; branchlets, leaves beneath, and branches of the inflorescence densely covered with silvery-white tomentum. Leaves alternate, 2–4 in. long, oblong-lanceolate to elliptic-oblong, acute or apiculate, rarely obtuse, coriaceous, gradually narrowed into rather short petioles. Flowers ⅓ in. diam., yellow, in axillary racemes shorter than the leaves; page 238pedicels short. Petals lanceolate, acute. Drupe ⅓ in. long, broadly oblong, dark-red.—C. buddleoides var. b, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 98; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 106; F. Muell. Veg. Chath. Is. 16.
Chatham Islands: Dieffenbach, H. H. Travers! Captain G. Mair! Cox! Whakataka; Hokotaka. Closely allied to C. buddleoides, but amply distinct in the broader leaves, axillary racemose flowers, and larger fruit. |
3. | C. Cotoneaster, Raoul, Choix, 22, t. 20.—A rigid densely branched shrub 4–8 ft. high; branches tortuous and interlaced; bark black; branchlets, under-surface of leaves, and inflorescence clothed with appressed silvery-white tomentum. Leaves alternate or in alternate fascicles, ⅓–1 in. long; blade orbicular to obovate or oblong-ovate, obtuse or emarginate, coriaceous, shining above, suddenly narrowed into a broad flat petiole. Flowers small, axillary and terminal, solitary or 2–4 together; pedicels short, bracteoiate. Petals narrow linear-oblong, acute. Drupe globose, ¼ in. diam., red.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 98; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 106; Kirk, Students' Fl. 224.
North and South Islands: Not uncommon from the North Cape to Foveaux Strait. Sea-level to 2500 ft. November–January. What may prove to be a fourth species of Corokia has been collected by myself at Spirits Bay, in the North Cape district. It is a twiggy bush 6–12 ft. high, with slender branches, not tortuous. Leaves alternate, ½–1½ in. long, narrow linear-obovate or oblanceolate, narrowed into very short petioles. Flowers and fruit not seen. |