NZ Myrtaceae Key - Online edition

Kunzea serotina de Lange & Toelken


Common Names

kānuka, mākahikatoa

Origin

New Zealand endemic.

Cultivation

Cultivated widely, mainly under the name Kunzea ‘Central North Island’.

Distribution

Mainly around the Central Volcanic Plateau in the North Island, as well as inland in low-lying areas to alpine situations in the northern South Island of New Zealand.

Distinguishing Features

  • Columnar to pyramidal habit.
  • Bark peeling readily, flakes curling (resembling wood shavings).
  • Foliage dark green to bronze green.
  • Branchlets with copious and persistent, spreading, minute hairs.
  • Leaves with distinct juvenile and adult forms.
  • Leaf surfaces hairless except for margins and lower (abaxial) midrib.
  • Leaves strongly recurved from about ½ of total length.
  • Flowers with yellow oil glands.

Habit

Columnar to pyramidal shrubs or trees to 20 m tall.

Bark and Stem/Trunk

Bark thin and papery to corky, somewhat stringy, readily peeling and curling (resembling wood shavings). Branchlets with copious and persistent, spreading, minute hairs.

Leaves

Leaves, alternate, narrowly oblanceolate to obovate, 4–7 mm long, 1–2 mm wide, reddish-green to bronze-green when young, dark glossy green when older, strongly recurved from about ½ of total length, leathery, leaf surfaces mostly hairless with hairs confined to margins and at least the abaxial (lower) midrib; leaf surfaces not puckered; margins entire; tips acute; leaf stalks absent or short.

Flowers

Flowers borne in compact clusters to 25 mm long, flowers ± 3–9 mm in diam., stalks present, petals 5, mostly white, oil glands yellow, drying pale yellow to ± colourless; sepals 5, tips free, lobes erect, persistent; stamens 20–38, white, longer than petals. Main flowering period: summer, but some flowers may be present in late spring or autumn.

Fruit

Fruit dry, 3–4(–5)-locular, ± 1.5–3.5 mm wide, uniformly hairy, flat-topped when valves closed, rarely persistent.

Similar Species

Kunzea robusta is most like K. serotina but differs in its larger stature and different growth habit. Also, the flowers of K. robusta possess petals with colourless oil glands that dry opaque or grey, while in K. serotina the oil glands are yellow, drying pale yellow to ± colourless. The fruits of K. serotina are smaller (1.5–3.5 mm wide) and normally 3–4-locular while those of K. robusta are larger (± 3–5 mm wide) and generally have 5, sometimes 6, locules.

Both K. tenuicaulis and K. serotina have recurved leaves and other similar characteristics, but habitat and habit differ, and fruit of K. tenuicaulis are persistent, whereas K. serotina fruit are only rarely persistent.

Notes

Kunzea serotina is a recently described species endemic to New Zealand (de Lange 2014). It has a 2018 conservation status of Threatened – Nationally Vulnerable. Relatively widespread, like K. robusta, and therefore also variable.

The genus Kunzea also occurs in Australia, where it is represented by more than 50 species of which three (K. ambigua, K. baxteri, K. parvifolia) are cultivated occasionally in gardens in New Zealand; another nine species are recorded as having been included in research trials or as rare garden occurrences.

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY 4.0).