Fuscospora fusca
Common name
red beech
Synonyms
Fagus fusca Hook. f., Nothofagus fusca (Hook.f.) Oerst.
Family
Nothofagaceae
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.
NOTFUS
Chromosome number
2n = 26
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). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2012 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: By 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.
2012 | Not Threatened
Previous conservation statuses
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened
Brief description
Tall forest tree bearing masses of small sharply-toothed leaves that also have a small hairy pit at the junction of the veins. Trunk flaky. Leaves 2-4cm long. Flowers and fruit small and usually inconspicuous but change colour of tree when in flower.
Distribution
North and South Islands - 37° southwards, except Mount Egmont.
Habitat
Lowland to montane forest.
Features
Tree up to 30 metres tall; trunk up to 2 metres or more in diameter, often strongly buttressed. Leaves rather thin, coriaceous, 20-40 × 15-25 mm., on petioles up to 4 mm. long; lamina glabrous except on veins below, broad-ovate to ovate-oblong, coarsely, rather deeply sharply serrate with 6-8 pairs of teeth; venation distinct; fringed domatia 1-2 in basal vein axils. Staminate inflorescences 1-8 per branchlet; peduncles glabrous, up to 4 mm. long, bearing 1-3 or rarely 5 subsessile flowers. Perianth 5 mm. long, campanulate; shallowly obtusely 5 lobed, sparsely to rather densely pubescent. Stamens 8-11; anthers 3 mm. long, red, yellow, or straw coloured. Pistillate inflorescences 1-5 per branchlet, sessile, ovoid to globose, 3 mm. long, glabrate, usually 3-flowered. Lateral flowers trimerous, terminal dimerous; stigmas ligulate, distinctly bilobed. Cupule pubescent, 4-partite; segments attenuate, up to 10 mm. long; glands between segments and bracts. Nuts 7 mm. long, triquetrous or flat; wings broad at base, attenuate.
Flowering
September – December
Flower colours
Red/Pink, Yellow
Fruiting
November - March
Etymology
fusca: Brown tinged with grey or black
Attribution
Description adapted by M. Ward from Allan (1961).
References and further reading
Allan, H. H. 1961 Flora of New Zealand. Volume I. Wellington, N. Z. pg. 398.
Greenwood, R.M. 1951. The Red Beech. Wellington Botanical Society Bulletin, 25: 6-9.
Heenan, P.B.; Smissen, R.D. 2013: Revised circumscription of Nothofagus and recognition of the segregate genera Fuscospora, Lophozonia, and Trisyngyne (Nothofagaceae). Phytotaxa 146: 1-31. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.146.1.1