Olearia traversiorum
Common name
Hakapiri, Chatham Island akeake,
Synonyms
Eurybia traversii F.Muell., Olearia traversii (F.Muell.) Hook.f. ortho. var.
Family
Asteraceae
Flora category
Vascular – Native
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Dicotyledonous Trees & Shrubs
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.
OLETRA
Chromosome number
2n = 108
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 | Threatened – Nationally Vulnerable | Qualifiers: CD, DP, IE, RF
Previous conservation statuses
2009 | Threatened – Nationally Vulnerable | Qualifiers: CD, DP, IE, RF
2004 | Range Restricted
Brief description
Small tree with oval dark green leathery leaves that are whiteish underneath and persistent seed heads inhabiting drier sites on the Chatham Islands. Leaves 15-80mm long by 10-46mm wide. Flowers cream or brownish, in small clusters, appearing late spring. Seeds fluffy.
Distribution
Endemic. Chatham Islands
Habitat
A tree common of lowland forests, now most commonly found on dune systems. It also occurs along the edge of larger lagoons and lakes (but only in free draining soils) and sometimes on cliff tops.
Features
Tree 12–18 m tall; trunks up to 1 m diameter, upright to spreading; occasionally with epicormic shoots. Bark light grey, becoming coarsely fibrous, deeply fissured, and rough textured on trunk and old branches; branchlets quadrangular, stout, 2.0–2.6 mm diameter. Leaves opposite, lamina 15–80 × 10–46 mm, broadly elliptic, obovate, broad-obovate, or occasionally elliptic; upper surface dark green, glossy, midrib raised and prominent; underside with dense appressed, off-white, tomentum; apex subacute to obtuse, with a small apiculus; base cuneate to obtuse, sometimes attenuate; petiole 5–10 mm long, covered in dense appressed tomentum. Inflorescence an axillary panicle with 5–68 capitula, persistent after fruiting; primary branches in 3–6 opposite pairs; lower pairs of branches with 3–19 capitula, upper 1–3 branches each with 1–3 capitula. Bracts subtending primary branches, 2.0–5.0 × 0.8–1.2 mm, lanceolate to narrowly triangular, apex subacute. Bracteoles 2.0–3.0 × 0.5–0.8 mm, margin entire, apex subacute. Capitulum 5.0–7.0 mm long, involucre cylindric; involucral bracts 10–14, 1–2-seriate, upper surface glabrous, underside moderately to densely hairy, margins entire, apex acute to subacute; outer bracts 2.0–2.8 × 0.8–1.1 mm, narrowly triangular to elliptic; inner bracts 3.3–4.0 × 0.6–1.1 mm, lanceolate to narrow triangular. Florets 7–11 per capitulum; corolla usually cream to buff, sometimes pale yellow. Pistillate florets 3–5. Hermaphrodite florets 3–7. Style 4.5–5.5 mm long; stigmatic arms 0.4–0.6 mm long. Ovary 0.8–1.6 × 0.4–0.6 mm. Anthers 1.3–1.5 mm long, white, dehiscent in bud, apex apiculate; filaments 0.5–0.6 mm long, inserted at top of corolla tube. Seeds 1.2–2.1 × 0.6–0.8 mm, narrow-cylindric, light brown, with 4–5 pale ribs, sparsely to moderately hairy; pappus 2.2–3.3 mm long, off-white to buff, finely scabrid.
Similar taxa
Olearia telmatica is closely related. It differs from hakapiri by its restriction to permanently flooded swamp habitats, smaller stature, slender trunk, narrower leaves, lemon-yellow and less hairy corolla, less branched inflorescence with fewer capitula, fulvous hairs on the inflorescence, earlier flowering season, readily dispersed seed, and abscising inflorescences
Flowering
November – January
Flower colours
Cream, Yellow
Fruiting
January – June
Propagation technique
Easily grown from semi-hardwood cuttings and fresh seed. Fast growing and an excellent shelter belt. This species rarely flowers in the northern part of New Zealand.
Threats
The wood of this tree is used for fence posts and as firewood.
Etymology
olearia: Named after Johann Gottfried Olearius, a 17th-century German scholar, writer of hymns and author of Specimen Florae Hallensis
traversiorum: Named after William Thomas Locke Travers (1819-1903) who was an Irish lawyer, magistrate, politician, explorer, naturalist, photographer. He lived in New Zealand from 1849 and was a fellow of the Linnean Society.
Common Names
This tree has long been known by the name ‘akeake’, that name has caused some confusion because of the unclear relationship with the unrelated Dodonaea viscosa (Sapindaceae) known in New Zealand as ‘akeake’. In part to resolve this confusion Olearia traversiorum has become more widely known as ‘Chatham Island akeake’. Recently it has been pointed out that the Moriori name for this Chatham Islands endemic is ‘hakapiri’. On advice from the Moriori imi Hokotehi this name is now used preferentially here.
Attribution
Fact Sheet prepared by Peter J. de Lange (12 December 2008). Description based on Heenan et al. (2008).
References and further reading
Heenan, P.B.; de Lange, P.J.; Houliston, G.J.; Murray, B.G. 2008: Olearia telmatica (Asteraceae: Astereae), a new tree species endemic to the Chatham Islands. New Zealand Journal of Botany 46: 567-583.
Citation
Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Olearia traversiorum Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/olearia-traversiorum/ (Date website was queried)