Raukaua anomalus
Synonyms
Pseudopanax anomalus (Hook.) Philipson; Neopanax anomalum (Hook.) Allan; Panax anomalum Hook.; Nothopanax anomalum (Hook.) Seem
Family
Araliaceae
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.
RAUANO
Chromosome number
2n = c.24
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 | Not Threatened
Previous conservation statuses
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened
Brief description
Bushy small-leaved shrub with hairy branchlets and flattened leaf stalks
Distribution
Endemic. North, South and Stewart Island. Widespread, but often localised
Habitat
Lowland to montane forest margins and shrubland. Near sea level to 900 m.
Features
Shrub to 3 m tall; branchlets hairy with stiff dark bristles, densely divaricating, interlacing; bark grey. Leaves alternate or fascicled, in juvenile plants 3-foliolate; adult leaves single; stipules absent. Petioles of juvenile winged,to 2.5 cm long, 5 mm long in adult, jointed to lamina; minute straw coloured scales at petiole base and internodes. Lamina 1-2 x 1-1.5 cm, obovate-oblong to suborbicular, crenate to sinuate, often mucronate, subcoriaceous, often with dark blotch at base; margin irregularly serrate to sinuate in juvenile, sinuate to minutely crenate in adult, teeth often terminating in a soft point; veins indistinct. Inflorescence axillary, a simple umbel, 2-10 flowered; rays short. Flowers small, green, hermaphroditic, passing through various stages; calyx minutely 5-toothed; ovary 2-loculed, each with 1 ovule; style branches 2, free at tips, connate; stamens 5, projecting, < petals. Fruit fleshy, 4-5 mm wide, laterally compressed, green ripening to either dark brown, blotched reddish purple, or pale cream; style bases retained on apical disc. Seeds 2 per fruit, broadly ovate or oblong and straight along ventral edge, surface irregularly ridged and dimpled, 2.4-3.8 mm long.
Similar taxa
Vegetatively most similar to either Melicope simplex, which has glabrous branchlets, or Aristotelia fruticosa, which has leaf veins obvious below, or Melicytus micranthus, which has a pale blotch at the leaf base.
Flower colours
Green
Etymology
raukaua: From the Maori name for R. edgerleyi, raukawa
anomalus: From the Greek anomalia ‘unusual’
Where To Buy
Occasionally available from specialist native plant nurseries.
Notes on taxonomy
Recently Frodin & Govaerts (2003) transferred the Chilean species Pseudopanax laetevirens (Miq.) Ball and Tasmanian P. gunnii (Hook.f.) K.Koch to Raukaua.
Attribution
Description adapted from Eagle (2000), Frodin and Govaerts (2003), Moorfield (2005), Webb and Simpson (2001) and Wilson and Galloway (1993).
References and further reading
Eagle, A. 2000. Eagle’s complete trees and shrubs of NZ. Te Papa Press, Wellington
Frodin, D.G.; Govaerts, R. 2003: World Checklist and Bibliography of Araliaceae, The Cromwell Press, European Union.
Moorfield, J. C. (2005). Te aka : Maori-English, English-Maori dictionary and index. Pearson Longman: Auckland, N.Z.
Webb, C.J. & Simpson, M.J.A. 2001. Seeds of NZ gymnosperms and dicotyledons. Manuka Press, Christchurch.
Wilson, H & Galloway, T. 1993. Small-leaved shrubs of NZ. Manuka Press, Christchurch.