Notelaea montana
Common names
narrow-leaved maire
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
Simplified description
Tree bearing pairs of dark green very narrow smooth leaves that are pale green underneath. Leaves 4-7cm long by 0.5cm wide. Fruit red, 6-9mm long, containing a single seed.
Flower colours
Cream
Detailed description
Gynodioecious(?) canopy tree up to 15 m tall, usually forming a domed canopy; trunk up to c.0.6 m diameter; occasional bearing 2 or more trunks from base these slender, straight, somewhat spreading, bark firm (not flaking), grey-brown to red-brown, tessellated. branches slender, upright to spreading; branchlets glabrous; branchlets glabrescent (with young growth initially minutely weakly pubescent). Leaves glabrous, coriaceous, dark glossy green above, paler beneath, margins plane (rarely weakly undulating), entire with midrib slightly raised above and below (side veins not evident when leaf fresh); borne on flexible, slender petioles 2-3(-5) mm long; lamina of juveniles 50-100 × 4-10 mm, narrowly linear, linear to linear-lanceolate, apex acute (rarely obtuse); adult lamina 40-80(-100) × 4-8 mm, narrow-linear to very narrowly-lanceolate, apex acute or, rarely, obtuse, base cuneately narrowed or attenuate. Inflorescence a 5-10-flowered raceme, rhachis and pedicels slender, mostly glabrous (sometimes sparsely, minutely puberulent). Male flowers with shallowly lobed calyx, lobes ovate-triangular, acute, anthers 2, exserted, ovary usually rudimentary (rarely functional). Female flowers similar but with anthers rudimentary (sometimes functional). Drupe 6-14 mm long, narrowly ovoid, flesh pinkish red, red or orange; endocarp 6.5-12.0 × 3.0-4.5 mm, dull, pale orange-yellow, elliptic. Seed purple-brown. Description adapted from Allan (1961) and Webb & Simpson (2001).
Similar taxa
Mature trees are easily distinguished from the other three species of maire (Notelaea ) by their distinctive linear, linear-lanceolate leaves, and much smaller fruits (6-14 mm in N. montana, 10-18 mm in N. apetala, 15-20 mm in N. cunninghamii and 10-18 mm in N. neolanceolata)
Distribution
Endemic. North and South Islands from near Kaitaia south to the Waimea Plain Nelson. Scarce in the southern North Island (where it is most common in the eastern Wairarapa) and very uncommon in the South Island).
Habitat
Widespread though rarely abundant in coastal to montane forest. Often found on steep hill slopes and ridge lines but also can be locally common in riparian forest especially on the margins of forest flats and tomo or dolines in karst country. Narrow-leaved maire is unusually common on the sand country of the Pouto Peninsula where it can at times dominate local coastal forest (e.g., Tapu Bush - see Wright and Young 1991).
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
Olea montana Hook.f., Gymnelaea montana (Hook.f.) L.A.S.Johnson; Nestegis montana (Hook.f.) L.A.S.Johnson
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
November - January
Fruiting
December - May
Propagation technique
Easily grown from fresh seed. An attractive small tree that makes an excellent specimen tree for a large garden or street avenue. Once established Notelaea montana is extremely tolerant of drought and frost. However, plants do best when planted in semi-shade in a position where they can grow into the light but they are remarkably tolerant of being planted into full sun. This tree deserves to be grown more widely than it is. However, it is rarely available from plant nurseries, even those that specialize in native plants.
Other information
Etymology
montana: From the Latin mons ‘mountain’, meaning growing on mountains
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.
NESMON
Chromosome number
2n = 46
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. Vol. I, Wellington, Government Printer.
Webb, C.J.; Simpson, M.J.A. 2001: Seeds of New Zealand Gymnosperms and Dicotyledons. Christchurch, Manuka Press.
Wright, A.E.; Young, M.E. 1991. Vascular plants of Tapu Bush, North Kaipara Harbour. Auckland Botanical Society Journal 46 (2): 70-72
Attribution
Fact Sheet Prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange 9 February 2011. Description adapted from Allan (1961) and Webb & Simpson (2001).
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.
NZPCN Fact Sheet citation
Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Notelaea montana Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/notelaea-montana/ (Date website was queried)