The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Species

Dracophyllum fiordense

Etymology

Dracophyllum: dragon leaf, from its likeness to the dragon tree of the Canary Islands
fiordense: of Fiordland

Current Conservation Status

2018 - At Risk - Declining

Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2012 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2009 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, Paul D. Champion, Shannel P. Courtney, Peter B. Heenan, John W. Barkla, Ewen K. Cameron, David A. Norton and Rodney A. Hitchmough. File size: 792KB

Previous Conservation Status

2012 - Not Threatened
2009 - Not Threatened
2004 - Not Threatened

Authority

Dracophyllum fiordense W.R.B.Oliv.

Family

Ericaceae

Brief Description

Small shrub or tree bearing a robust tuft of thick grass-like leaves at tip of the usually single trunk inhabiting mountains in Fiordland and central Westland. Leaves reddish at tips, 40-70cm long by 4-5cm at widest point, tip often curled. Flowers in a robust dense spike from under the leaf tufts.

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

NVS Species Code

DRAFIO

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Trees & Shrubs

Synonyms

None

Distribution

Endemic. New Zealand: South Island (South Westland - Western Otago and Fiordland as far north as Alex Knob, Franz Josef).

Habitat

Lowland to subalpine on steep ridge lines, cliff faces, bluffs, ravines, gully heads and the upper slopes of glaciated valleys. Usually found in low subalpine forest and shrubland, less commonly in tussock grassland.

Features

A tree 1.5–5.0 m tall. Branches erect and sparsely branched. Bark on old branches greyish–brown, deeply fissured to flaky at the base on old stems and branches, young stems yellowish brown. Leaves crowded on tips of branches; lamina sheath 60–87 × 30–43 mm, coriaceous, striate, tapering and margin smooth; lamina coriaceous, linear–triangular to lanceolate, 400–700 × 40–50 mm, surfaces glabrous, prominently striated; margin denticulate with 10–15 teeth per 10 mm; apex acute and often spiraling. Inflorescence an axillary panicle some distance below the leaves; much shorter than the leaves, drooping, dense, 100–150 mm long, pyramidal, densely branched; rachis and pedicels glabrous; inflorescence axis 5.6–7.7 mm in diameter; basal inflorescence branch 20–50 mm long, widely spreading; inflorescence bracts caducous, over topping flowers, light green, ovate–triangular at base, 40–51 × 18–21 mm, surfaces glabrous, margins ciliate. Flowers hidden by leaves, 113–120, in groups of more than 10 at base of inflorescence; bracteoles caducous, longer than the perianth and situated in the middle of the pedicel, 4.5–5.0 × 0.8–1.0 mm, glabrous; pedicels straight, 0.8–1.5 mm long, glabrous. Sepals ovate, 2.0–2.5 × 2.0–3.0 mm, shorter than the corolla tube, striate, surfaces glabrous; margins ciliate. Corolla light to dark pink; corolla tube broadly campanulate, widened at mouth, 2.0–2.5 long and wide; corolla lobes reflexed, oblong, equaling the corolla tube, 1.5–2.0 × 1.3–1.5 mm, apices obtuse; surfaces glabrous. Stamens hypogynous, filaments 2.3–2.5 mm long; anthers exserted, oblong, light yellow and 1.5–2.0 mm long. Ovary subglobose, 0.9–1.0 × 1.3–1.5 mm, glabrous, apex round; nectary scales rectangular, 0.6–0.7 mm long and wide, apex retuse; style exserted, 1.8–2.0 mm long, glabrous; stigma five–lobed. Fruit reddish brown, 2.0–2.8 × 2.5–4.0 mm, depressed– globose, apex round, glabrous. Seeds brown, ovoid, 0.55–0.6 mm long, testa slightly reticulate.

Similar Taxa

Dracophyllum fiordense is recognised by the unbranched (occasionally only once) stems; very large and long leaves with narrowed lamina bases and prominently spiraled apices; the panicle situated below the leaves; sepals shorter than the corolla tube with spaced cilia on the margin; bracteoles longer than the flower with a few teeth at the apex; anthers exserted; and by the short and very broad capsule. Dracophyllum fiordense is related to D. menziesii and D. townsonii as all species possess axillary panicles situated below the leaves. It resembles D. traversii somewhat but differs in the unbranched to sparsely branched stems, the large leaves with spiralled apices and the inflorescences situated below the leaves. The panicles are more branched than those of D. menziesii but closely resemble those of D. townsonii in size and shape.

Flowering

January – March

Fruiting

Throughout the year

Propagation Technique

Difficult. Should not be removed from the wild. Don't be tempted - take photographs instead!

Threats

Not Threatened

Endemic Taxon

Yes

Endemic Genus

No

Endemic Family

No

Life Cycle and Dispersal

Minute seeds are wind dispersed (Thorsen et al., 2009).

This page last updated on 30 Jul 2014