Fuscospora fusca
Common names
red beech
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
Simplified 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 2–4 cm long. Flowers and fruit small and usually inconspicuous but change colour of tree when in flower.
Flower colours
Red/Pink, Yellow
Detailed description
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.
Distribution
Endemic. New Zealand: North Island (from latitude 37° southwards, except Mount Taranaki), South Island.
Habitat
Lowland to montane forest.
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
Fagus fusca Hook. f., Nothofagus fusca (Hook.f.) Oerst.
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
September–December
Fruiting
November–March
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]
FACU: Facultative Upland
Occasionally is a hydrophyte but usually occurs in uplands (non-wetlands).
Other information
Etymology
fusca: Brown tinged with grey or black
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.
FUSFUS
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 | Not Threatened
2012 | Not Threatened
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened
Regional conservation statuses
The regional threat classification system leverages off the national assessments in the NZTCS, providing information relevant for the regional context. Otago conservation status information is sourced from the “Regional conservation status of indigenous vascular plants in Otago” Jarvie S et al. (2024) report.
Otago: 2024 | Regionally Not Threatened
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Allan HH. 1961. Flora of New Zealand, Volume I. Indigenous Tracheophyta: Psilopsida, Lycopsida, Filicopsida, Gymnospermae, Dicotyledones. Government Printer, Wellington, NZ. 1085 p.
Anonymous. 1957. Construction of key for the genus Nothofagus. Auckland Botanical Society Journal 14: 2–3.
Greenwood RM. 1951. The Red Beech. Wellington Botanical Society Bulletin 25: 6–9.
Heenan PB, Smissen RD. 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.
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.