Myrsine coxii
Common name
swamp matipo, swamp mapou, Cox’s matipo
Synonyms
Suttonia coxii (Cockayne) Cockayne, Rapanea coxii (Cockayne) W.R.B.Oliv.
Family
Primulaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Native
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
MYRCOX
Chromosome number
2n = 46
Current conservation status
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2017 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website. This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2012 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants.
Please note, threat classifications are often suggested by authors when publications fall between NZTCS assessment periods – an interim threat classification status has not been assessed by the NZTCS panel.
- Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017 . 2018. Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, John W. Barkla, Shannel P. Courtney, Paul D. Champion, Leon R. Perrie, Sarah M. Beadel, Kerry A. Ford, Ilse Breitwieser, Ines Schönberger, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Peter B. Heenan and Kate Ladley. Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
2017 | At Risk – Declining | Qualifiers: DP, IE, RF
Previous conservation statuses
2012 | At Risk – Declining | Qualifiers: DP, IE, RF
2009 | At Risk – Declining | Qualifiers: RF, IE, DP
2004 | Range Restricted
Brief description
Erect bushy shrub with erect branches and twigs bearing small oval leaves with uneven edges inhabiting wet sites on the Chatham Islands. Leaves 7-20mm long by 5-12mm wide, clustered along twigs. Fruit purple.
Distribution
Endemic. Chatham Islands, Rekohu (Chatham Island), Rangiauria (Pitt Island) and on Rangatira (South-East Island). Most common in the southern part of Rekohu though there are sporadic occurrences in the north-west (near Point Somes and Ocean Bay). Very uncommon on Rangiauria.
Habitat
A species of waterlogged peaty ground in forest and along lake margins as well as a prominent woody species in restiad bogs on the Chatham Islands. In forested habitats it is usually found in dense stands along stream sides, and on margins of clears. In the Tuku-a-Tamatea Nature Reserve on Rekohu it is a widespread canopy tree in the dense forest that covers the peaty ridges, valley heads and slopes. In these situations it frequently forms small trees.
Wetland plant indicator status rating
Information derived from the revised national wetland plant list prepared to assist councils in delineating and monitoring wetlands (Clarkson et al., 2021 Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research Contract Report LC3975 for Hawke’s Bay Regional Council). The national plant list categorises plants by the extent to which they are found in wetlands and not ‘drylands’. The indicator status ratings are OBL (obligate wetland), FACW (facultative wetland), FAC (facultative), FACU (facultative upland), and UPL (obligate upland). If you have suggestions for the Wetland Indicator Status Rating, please contact: [Enable JavaScript to view protected content]
FACW: Facultative Wetland
Usually is a hydrophyte but occasionally found in uplands (non-wetlands).
Detailed description
Shrub or small gynodioecious tree up to 12 m tall, with extensively creeping underground network of stems, these emitting offset plants up to 10 m away from parent plant; trunk 0.1-0.2 m dbh, usually multi-trunked and branching from base, bark red-brown to dark brown. usually clean of lichens and bryophyte growth (except in restiad bogs). Branches numerous, fastigiate (i.e. like a pitch fork), close set, in open conditions densely set and crowded, in swamp forest markedly less so; branchlets, slender, numerous densely packed and leafy along entire length in open situations, less so in shaded sites, lenticellate, yellow-green to dark green or red-green, young growth finely clad in short (0.1-0.3 mm) stiff hairs becoming glabrous with age. Leaves alternate, usually very densely clustered and crowded along branchlets and short lateral branchlets, coriaceous, finely pubescent when young becoming glabrous with age, adaxially dark green (shaded sites or in forest) or yellow-green (very rarely with dark red blemishes), abaxially slightly paler, oil gland numerous, minute, colourless of pink-tinged; midrib indistinct from lamina, concolorous with lamina, scarcely raised above, slightly so below, finely pubescent, indumentum shedding with age; petioles wanting, 1-4(-10) mm long. Lamina 8-10-20(-25) × 5-10-14 mm, inrolled, obovate, oval, occasionally oblong, apex retuse, emarginate or obtuse, cuneately narrowed at apex, margins entire, thickened, finely ciliolate when young. Inflorescence in (1-)2-3(-6)-flowered fascicles. Flowers cream, pale yellow or wine-red, occasionally darkly spotted purple-black; pedicels 0.8-1.2 mm long, elongating to 10 mm in fruit. Pistillate flowers: often solitary or in pairs, calyx 0.8-1.2 mm, tube 0.2-0.45 mm, lobes 4, 0.6-0.8 × 0.3-0.4 mm, broadly ovate, erecto-patent, subacute, margins ciliolate; corolla 2.0-2.5 mm, tube wanting, lobes 4, erecto-patent, 1.2-1.6 × 0.6-1.0 mm, broadly elliptic, copiously covered in oil glands, these colourless or tinged pink, margins ciliolate, cilia white or pink-tinged. Antherodes absent or malformed, 0.23-0.28 × 0.10-0.18 mm, apiculus recurved or absent; pollen absent. Ovary 2.4-3.2 × 1.8-2.6 mm, ellipsoid, green, often pink-tinged, copiously spotted in oil glands. Stigma sessile, 2.0-2.1 mm diameter, 4-armed, white, often pink-tinged. Staminate flowers: calyx 0.8-1.4 mm, tube 0.2-0.4 mm, lobes 4, erecto-patent, 0.6-0.8 × 0.4-0.6 mm, ovate, margins minutely ciliolate, cilia pinkish; corolla 2.2-2.9 mm, tube 0.2-0.6 mm,lobes 4, spreading (with apices strong decurved at anthesis), 2.4-3.2 × 1.2-2.0 mm, elliptic, margins ciliolate, pinkish, apex obtuse. Stamens 4(-5), filaments 0.4-0.6 × 0.11-0.14 mm, pinkish, stamens red or pink, apiculus recurved. Ovary absent or malformed. Bisexual flowers: calyx 0.8-1.4 mm, tube 0.2-0.4 mm, lobes 4, erecto-patent, 0.6-0.8 × 0.4-0.6 mm, ovate, margins minutely ciliolate, pinkish; corolla 2.2-2.9 mm, tube 0.2-0.6 mm,lobes 4, spreading (with apices strongly decurved at anthesis), 2.3-2.9 x 1.2-1.31 mm, elliptic, margins fimbriate,cilia pinkish, apex rounded or obtuse. Stamens (4-)5, filaments 2.4-3.2 × 1.2-2.0 mm, pinkish, stamens red, apiculus recurved. Ovary 2.4-3.2 × 1.8-2.6 mm, ellipsoid, green, often pink-tinged, copiously spotted in oil glands. Stigma sessile, 2.0-2.1 mm diameter, 4-armed, white, often pink-tinged. Drupe 1-seeded, 6-8 mm diameter, dark violet to purple-black, globose, purplish. Endocarp 3.2-4.0 × 3.2-3.8 mm, globose (rarely broadly elliptic), light greenish yellow or yellow, surface ± smooth, without obvious veins.
Similar taxa
None. Myrsine coxii is easily distinguished from M. chathamica (with which it often grows) by its columnar growth habit, fastigiate branching pattern, and much smaller, inrolled oval tooblong emarginate, or obcordate leaves. Myrsine coxii is the only species of the two to extent out into restiad bog, and furthermore it is the only one to extensively root sucker - in some cases up to 10 m from the parent plant. The hybrid M. chathamica x M. coxii is occasionally seen.
Flowering
May - September
Flower colours
Red/Pink, Yellow
Fruiting
July - November
Propagation technique
Difficult. Has been successfully grown from root suckers. Seed is rarely available but if fresh germinates easily. Myrsine coxii dislikes drying out and humidity. Best results are obtained where specimens are planted in peaty, damp soils in a shaded site.
Threats
Myrsine coxii is scarce in the northern two-thirds of Rekohu (Chatham Island) and on Rangiauria (Pitt Island). It is numerically abundant within forest remnants and restiad bogs of the southern tablelands of Rekohu. Recent surveys have shown that what people in the past had recorded as seedlings were root suckers and that genuine seedlings are scarce. Flowering although frequent does not seem to produce much fruit. Therefore it has been listed as Declining by the New Zealand Vascular Threat Listing Panel. Irrespective, it is clear that the observations of recruitment failure urgently need further research.
Etymology
myrsine: Myrrh
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by P.J. de Lange for NZPCN (1 June 2013)
NZPCN Fact Sheet citation
Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Myrsine coxii Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/myrsine-coxii/ (Date website was queried)