Leptospermum tairawhitiense

Detailed description

Growth habit — erect shrubs up to 4 m tall, bases sometimes suckering, and when so forming thickets up to 2 m wide. Trunk — slender, usually unbranched at base, up to 0.2 m d.b.h., branched or not from base. Bark — usually loosely attached, chartaceous to semi-coriaceous, flaking readily, shards irregular, often with sinuous margins, adaxially charcoal grey or grey, abaxially reddish. Branches — 3 or more, erect, semi-erect or widely spreading, with numerous branchlets, young stems glabrescent, initially copiously covered in (0.10−0.22−)0.25(−0.40) mm long, white, straight to slightly flexuous, sericeous, antrorse-appressed, caducous hairs. Vegetative bud scales — 3−8, mostly shedding soon after vegetative growth commences, rarely persistent (0.4−)0.6−0.8(−1.0) × (0.3−)0.6−0.7(−1.0) mm, amber to red-brown, scarious, oblong to ovoid, inner surface smooth, glossy, outer often entire, sometimes with frayed, lacerate margins, glabrescent. Leaves — crowded along branchlets, spicy-scented when crushed, divergent to spreading (arising at angles of (70−)85−90° from axis, in mature plants), semi-glossy yellow-green to dull dark green, usually red-tinged in seedlings, maturing, dull green to dark green, red-tinged, ±glaucescent (new growth, or if plants stressed, yellow-green, red-tinged, glaucescent); lamina (3.0−)4.8−6.2(−9.0) × (1.0−)1.3(−2.1) mm, narrow-lanceolate, elliptic-lanceolate, rarely narrowly ovate, flat to weakly concave, acute or sometimes acuminate, usually cuspidate, acumen if present up to 0.2−0.4 mm long, bases cuneate to attentuate, margins minutely denticulate; surfaces on young growth sericeous hairy either near base and along midrib, and along leaf margin, maturing glabrescent or with adaxial and abaxial surfaces sparsely covered with hairs, these (if present) either persisting on mature leaves or ± persisting on basal portion of leaf and along portions of leaf margin (especially toward base); oil glands numerous, more evident when dry. Perules — 4−6, shedding at bud burst, (0.3−)0.4−0.8(−1.1) × (0.4−)0.6−0.8(−1.0) mm, glabrous, hyaline, amber to pale red-brown, scarious, orbicular, margins usually entire or sometimes frayed, inner surface smooth, glossy. Inflorescence — monadic on short axillary brachyblasts or on long, 400 mm long or more, terminal shoots. Prophylls — caducous, 2, 0.1−0.2 mm long, oblong, midrib scarcely developed, green to red-green when fresh, tan when dry, abaxial surface densely invested in white sericeous hairs. Pedicels — sessile or subsessile, 0.1−0.2 mm long at anthesis, sometimes elongating to 1.3 mm after anthesis, terete, sparsely invested with antrorse-appressed, sericeous white hairs. Flower buds — clavate, tholiform, spheroidal, with calyx lobes not meeting. Flowers — living flowers subcampanulate, when fully expanded (8−)10(−14) mm in diameter. Hypanthium — green, obconic, obconic-funnelform, (2.5−)3.9−4.2(−4.8) wide, by (2.2−)3.3(−4.0) mm, terminating in a thicker rim bearing five calyx lobes; surface smooth, finely glandular punctate, glabrous. Calyx lobes — 5, erect to sub-erect, 0.8−1.2 × 0.9−1.4 mm, green, broadly deltoid, subacute. Sepals — sub-erect to ± spreading, caducous, 3.0−4.5 × 3.6−4.8 mm, white, green-white, or pink-tinged, tabular-obtuse, sometimes subacute, apices often weakly cucullate, oil glands evident, colourless. Receptacle initially pink, colour intensifying to dark red at anthesis. Petals — 5(−8)5.0−6.6(−7.0) × 4.6−6.4 mm, white, orbicular, apex obtuse, rotund, sometimes subtruncate, margins entire or finely crimped, oil glands not evident. Stamens — (20−)28(−32), arranged in 1(−2) whorls adnate to receptacular rim, filaments white or pink. Antisepalous stamens (2−)3(−4), antipetalous (2−)4−5(−6). Antisepalous stamens on filaments 1.0−1.8 mm long, incurved, erect or in mixtures of both. Antipetalous stamens erect or weakly incurved, sometimes petalloid, on filaments (3.0−)4.6−6.0 mm long, occasional inner whorl of 2 stamens present, these erect or incurved, 2.0−3.3 mm long, positioned at base of the outermost antipetalous pair. Anthers dorsifixed 0.3−0.5 × 0.12−0.16 mm, ovoid, latrorse, pink or dark red. Pollen white to cream. Anther connective gland c. 0.19 mm long, amber, or pale pink, narrowly obovoid. Ovary — 5(−7)-locular, each loculus with 70 or more ovules, set in 8 rows on each placental lobe. Style (2.6−)3.8−4.5 mm long at anthesis, elongating to 5.2 mm after anthesis, green, pink, darkening to red, at anthesis; stigma (0.40−)0.50−0.8 mm in diameter at anthesis, expanding to 1.0 mm following anthesis, flat, initially green, or pink, darkening red at anthesis, finely papillate rugulose. Fruits — persistent, woody, (4.5−)5.6(−6.8) × (3.6−)5.5 mm (unopened), (4.8−)5.8(−7.2) × (3.8−)4.6 mm (opened), pale grey, broadly obcoic or hemispherical / globose, centre often with persistent style remnant, valves 5(−7), exserted as a dome, indented at centre, ± symmetrical with base. Valves opening on dead branches or following fire. Seeds — 2.2−2.4(−2.8) × 0.19−0.22 mm, linear, linear-cuneiform, curved, flexuous to sigmoid, laterally compressed, or terete, 2−4-angled, apex truncate or acute, testa dull or glossy, orange-brown, glabrous, longitudinally striate.