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  4. Epacris sinclairii

Epacris sinclairii

Perrys Hill, Great Barrier Island.<br>Photographer: Gillian M. Crowcroft, Licence: All rights reserved. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Table Mountain (Whakairi), Coromandel.<br>Photographer: Cynthia Roberts, Date taken: 01/02/2010, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0'>CC BY-SA</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Table Mountain (Whakairi), Coromandel.<br>Photographer: Cynthia Roberts, Date taken: 01/02/2010, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0'>CC BY-SA</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Table Mountain (Whakairi), Coromandel.<br>Photographer: Cynthia Roberts, Date taken: 01/02/2010, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0'>CC BY-SA</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Table Mountain (Whakairi), Coromandel.<br>Photographer: Cynthia Roberts, Date taken: 01/02/2010, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0'>CC BY-SA</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Perrys Hill, Great Barrier Island.<br>Photographer: Gillian M. Crowcroft, Date taken: 01/03/2001, Licence: All rights reserved. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Unnamed rock tor, Great Barrier Island.<br>Photographer: Peter J. de Lange, Date taken: 01/04/2002, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Habitat, rock tor, Great Barrier Island.<br>Photographer: Peter J. de Lange, Date taken: 01/04/2002, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Mt Whaka, Great Barrier Island.<br>Photographer: Peter J. de Lange, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
A close up of flowers, Mt Hirakimata (Hobson), Great Barrier Island.<br>Photographer: Peter J. de Lange, Date taken: 01/04/2000, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
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Common names

Sinclair’s tamingi

Biostatus

Native – Endemic taxon

Category

Vascular

Structural class

Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons

Simplified description

Bushy woody shrub with small hard leaves 7-15mm long by 2-5mm wide inhabiting upland Coromandel and Great Barrier Island. Leaves distinctly widest at middle, with three darker green lines on underside, with a small pale knob at tip. Flowers white, solitary in the base of leaves but many per twig.

Flower colours

Red/Pink, White

Detailed description

Stout, erect, bushy, usually spreading shrub or small tree 1-8 x 1-3 m. Basal trunk stout, up to 100 mm dbh; bark grey-brown, flaking in long strips. Branches numerous, very leafy, virgate, spreading, minutely hairy when young, becoming glabrescent. Leaves ascending, patent to sub patent, close-set, firmly coriaceous, 7-15(-20) x 2-5(-8) mm, broadly lanceolate to ovate, rhomboidal-ovate to oblong-ovate; apex obtuse, often terminating in a distinctive cream-coloured or pale-green knob (never acuminate or mucronate); veins obscure on upper side, distinct on underside, bright green to bronze-green above, paler beneath. Flowers axillary, solitary, often aggregated toward branchlet tips. Peduncles 2-2.5 mm long. Corolla 5-8 mm diameter, white, lobes 5, spreading, broad-oblong, obtuse. Stamens 5, filaments, inserted on corolla tube, anthers red-brown to black, scarcely exserted. Capsules 1.5-2.5 mm long, subglobose, 5-lobed.

Similar taxa

Rather similar to Epacris pauciflora A.Rich. (swamp tamingi) which differs mainly by its strongly erect, nevre spreading, sparingly branched “pitch fork” growth form, smaller over all stature (rarely exceeding 2 m in height), and smaller, dark green to red-green rhomboidal, acuminate to mucronate leaves. There are no major floral, fruit or seed differences. E. pauciflora is a species of gumland scrub and peat bogs, which does not grow in forest or on rhyolite rock outcrops. On Great Barrier Island and in the upper Kauaerange Valley both species are locally sympatric.

Distribution

Endemic. North Island. Great Barrier Island where it is confined to the Central Mount Hobson Massif, and the Coromandel Peninsula, where it is only known from the Upper Kauaeranga Valley.

Habitat

A rhyolite endemic, preferring cloud Forest (where it can be epiphytic) and associated rock tors. On Great Barrier Island, due to past forest logging and associated land clearance plants have also colonised gumland scrub and other open, improverished clay pans.

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 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: RR

Jump to previous conservation statuses

Threats

Threatened by the heavily reduced habitat the species now occupies. In the few locations where it is known it is regenerating freely.

Detailed taxonomy

Family

Ericaceae

Authority

Epacris sinclairii Hook f.

Synonyms

Epacris pauciflora var. sinclairii (Hook.f.) Cheeseman

Taxonomic notes

Epacris sinclairii is ecological and morpholgoical distinct from E. pauciflora with which it is broadly sympatric on Great Barrier Island, andin the upper Kauaerange Valley. Limited nrDNA ITS sequence data (unpublished, University of Auckland) indicate only a minimal difference between E. sinclairii and E. pauciflora (a single base pair change).

Endemic taxon

Yes

Endemic genus

No

Endemic family

No

Ecology

Flowering

Mainly April - though occasional flowers may be seen in September-October

Fruiting

Mainly May-July

Life cycle and dispersal

Minute seeds are wind dispersed (Thorsen et al., 2009).

Propagation technique

Difficult. Should not be removed from the wild.

Other information

Etymology

epacris: From the Greek epi ‘upon’ and akros ‘the top’, referring these plants’ habitat being on high ground

sinclairii: After Sinclair (c. 1796–1861). Colonial Secretary and naturalist.

Chromosome number

2n = 26

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 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: RR

2012 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: RR

2009 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: RC

2004 | Threatened – Nationally Endangered

Jump to current conservation status

Referencing and citations

References and further reading

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 11: 285-309

Attribution

Fact Sheet prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange 15 October 2005. Description by P.J. de Lange.

NZPCN Fact Sheet citation

Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Epacris sinclairii Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/epacris-sinclairii/ (Date website was queried)

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