Ackama rosifolia
Common names
Makamaka
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
Simplified description
Small Northland tree. Leaves consisting of 4 to 10 or more opposite pairs of toothed leaflets and a terminal leaflet which have small hairy pits at the junction of the main leaflet veins. Flowers in dense sprays of cream coloured flowers developing into pinkish or red fruits.
Flower colours
Cream, White
Detailed description
Shrub, becoming a tree up to 12 m tall; trunk up to 60 cm diameter; branchlets, petioles, young leaves and panicle-branches covered with short brownish hairs. Leaves pinnate, with a single terminal pinna; leaflets sharply serrate, subsessile, domatia present on underside. Leaves of juveniles sub- membranous, up to 25 cm long, 6-10 yoked together as a pair; terminal leaflet 3-6 cm long, including petiolule, 1.5-3 cm. wide, ovate-elliptic; lateral leaflets elliptic-oblong, diminishing downwards from 4-3 cm. to 1 cm. long. Leaves of adults subcoriaceous, 3-5 yoked together as a pair; terminal leaflet obovate-cuneate, acute, 4-7 cm. wide; lateral diminishing downwards from 4 cm to 1 cm long, elliptic-oblong; stipules foliaceous. Panicles much-branched, up to 15 cm long. Flowers numerous, approximately 3 mm. across. Sepals ovate, approximately 1 mm. long; petals narrow, approximately 1.5 mm. long, stamens exserted, styles approximately 1 mm. long. Capsules ovoid, pilose, approximately 3-4 mm. long, bearing persistent sepals and styles.
Similar taxa
Very similar to juvenile foliage of Weinmannia silvicola but can be distinguished by the domatia on the underside of the leaves. These domatia are known as tuft pocket domatia and occur at the junction of the mid-rib and the side vein where there is a pocket of hairs. Makamaka also has huge prominent stipules that are large, green and heavily veined.
Distribution
Endemic. North Island only from near Kaitaia south to just north of Wellsford. Often rather local in its occurrences, particularly south of Whangarei.
Habitat
Lowland forest, forest margins and stream-sides.
Current conservation status
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2022-2023 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website. This report includes replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Previous assessments can be found here.
- Conservation status of vascular plants in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023. 2024. Peter J. de Lange, Jane Gosden, Shannel P. Courtney, Alexander J. Fergus, John W. Barkla, Sarah M. Beadel, Paul D. Champion, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Troy Makan and Pascale Michel Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
2023 | Not Threatened
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Synonyms
Caldcluvia rosifolia (A.Cunn.) Hoogland
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
September-November
Fruiting
January-March
Life cycle and dispersal
Hairy carpels dispersed by wind (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Propagation technique
Can be grown from semi-hardwood cuttings and fresh seed. A fast growing, and rather attractive small tree. However, very drought intolerant, and needs a damp soil and sunny aspect to thrive.
Other information
Etymology
ackama: Formed from its Maori name - maka-maka
rosifolia: Rose-leafed
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.
ACKROS
Chromosome number
2n=32
Previous conservation statuses
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2022-2023 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website. This report includes replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Previous assessments can be found here.
- Conservation status of vascular plants in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023. 2024. Peter J. de Lange, Jane Gosden, Shannel P. Courtney, Alexander J. Fergus, John W. Barkla, Sarah M. Beadel, Paul D. Champion, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Troy Makan and Pascale Michel Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
2017 | Not Threatened
2012 | Not Threatened
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Allan, H. H. 1961: Flora of New Zealand. Volume 1. Wellington: Government Printer. Pg. 347.
Thorsen, M. J.; Dickinson, K. J. M.; Seddon, P. J. 2009. Seed dispersal systems in the New Zealand flora. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 2009 Vol. 11 No. 4 pp. 285-309.
Attribution
Description adapted by M. Ward from Allan (1961).
Some of this factsheet information is derived from Flora of New Zealand Online and is used under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand licence.