''Alseuosmia'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of five species of flowering plants in the family

Alseuosmiaceae Alseuosmiaceae is a plant family of the order Asterales found in Australia, New Caledonia, and New Zealand. They are shrubs with leaves arranged in spirals or whorls about the stem. The flowers are solitary or borne in raceme or fascicle inflor ...

, growing in New Zealand's

North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...

. Species members are characteristically small evergreen shrubs. An example occurrence of species representative ''

Alseuosmia macrophylla ''Alseuosmia macrophylla'', the toropapa or karapapa, is a plant species in the family Alseuosmiaceae. This is a small evergreen shrub which is endemic to New Zealand, along with two closely related species. An example occurrence of ''A. macrophy ...

'' is in the

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

of the

Hamilton Ecological District Hamilton Ecological District is part of the Waikato Ecological Region in New Zealand's North Island. It occupies the Hamilton basin and surrounding foothills, and has been heavily modified with less than two percent of its indigenous vegetati ...

, where ''

Blechnum discolor ''Lomaria discolor'', synonym ''Blechnum discolor'', commonly called crown fern (Māori: piupiu), is a species of fern in the family Blechnaceae. This species is endemic to New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southw ...

'' and '' B.filiforme'' are understory elements with a '' Nothofagus truncata'' and ''

Dacrydium cupressinum ''Dacrydium cupressinum'', commonly known as rimu, is a species of tree in the family Podocarpaceae. It is a dioecious evergreen conifer, reaching heights of up to , and can have a stout trunk up to in diameter. It is endemic to New Zealand ...

overstory In biology, the canopy is the aboveground portion of a plant cropping or crop, formed by the collection of individual plant crowns. In forest ecology, the canopy is the upper layer or habitat zone, formed by mature tree crowns and includ ...

. ''Alseuosmia'' was first described in 1839 from specimens collected in Northland forests by

Cunningham Cunningham is a surname of Scottish origin, see Clan Cunningham. Notable people sharing this surname A–C *Aaron Cunningham (born 1986), American baseball player * Abe Cunningham, American drummer *Adrian Cunningham (born 1960), Australian ...

. Other species are '' A.banksii'', '' A.pusilla'', '' A.quercifolia'', and '' A.turneri''. ''A.quercifolia'' is the most common of the species in lowland native forest of

Waikato The Waikato () is a region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipā District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the nort ...

, sometimes known as A. Hakarimata. It is an

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

shrub, found north of 38°05’S, up to tall, though usually under . It has red or pink flowers of 5 petals, clustered at base of leaves, giving a strong scent.

References

Sources

* Thomas Frederick Cheeseman. 1906. ''Manual of the New Zealand Flora: Published Under the Authority of the Government of New Zealand'', published by J. Mackay, government printer, 1199 pages * C. Michael Hogan. 2009
''Crown Fern: Blechnum discolor'', Globaltwitcher.com, ed. N. Stromberg
Alseuosmiaceae Asterales genera {{Asterales-stub