Pomaderris kumeraho
Common names
kumarahou, gum-digger’s soap, golden tainui
Biostatus
Native
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
Simplified description
Shrub rarely reaching 4m tall with fuzzy twigs bearing wrinkled blunt-tipped leaves that have very prominent veins on the brownish underside. Leaves 6cm long by 3cm wide, with brownish star-shaped hairs underneath. Flowers pale yellow, in dense round clusters. Fruit dry, small.
Flower colours
Yellow
Similar taxa
Pomaderris hamiltonii L.B.Moore, which is a small tree with elliptic, dark green leaves, tapering at the base and tip, and by the more open inflorescences bearing cream-coloured flowers
Distribution
Endemic. North Island only from Te Paki to just south of the Kawhia Harbour and Te Kuiti in the west and the northern Bay of Plenty in the east
Habitat
Coastal to lowland, in open, early to mid successional habitats. Often on roadside banks, and in gumland vegetation. Occasionally seen in forested situations.
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.
Please note, threat classifications are often suggested by authors when publications fall between NZTCS assessment periods – these interim threat classification statuses has not been assessed by the NZTCS panel.
- 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
Rhamnaceae
Synonyms
Has been confused with the somewhat similar but distinctive Tasmanian P. elliptica Labill.
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
September - October
Fruiting
Novermber - January
Propagation technique
Best from fresh seed which is slow to germinate. Semi-hardwood cuttings will strike but they can be slow and results variable. Best strikes have been achieved when cuttings have been placed in untreated saw dust. An attractive plant for a small garden, prefers full sun, and nutrient poor soils, resents competition, and is prone to phytophora and verticillium wilt
Other information
Cultivation
Occasionally availabe from garden centres, more often sold by specialist native plant nurseries.
Etymology
pomaderris: Lid skin
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.
POMKUM
Chromosome number
2n = 24
Previous conservation statuses
2017 | Not Threatened
2012 | Not Threatened
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Gardner, R. 1996. Ants and Pomaderris seeds. Auckland Botanical Society Journal, 51: 96-97.