'' Corokia carpodetoides'', simply known locally as corokia, is a

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of ...

in the

Argophyllaceae Argophyllaceae is a family of shrubs or small trees belonging to the order Asterales. The family includes c. 24 species in two genera, '' Argophyllum'' and '' Corokia''. Members of the family are native to eastern Australia, New Zealand, Lord ...

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

derives from a resemblance to the genus ''

Carpodetus ''Carpodetus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the Rousseaceae family. It was formerly considered to lie within the Escalloniaceae. Its species occur in New Guinea, New Zealand, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu. The genus is characterised by small ...

'', with the addition of the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

suffix ''-oides'' (“resembling”).

Description

It is a shrub, usually growing to about 2 m in height, but occasionally up to a tree-like 5 m. The young stems have a covering of short, matted hairs. Its narrowly oblanceolate to narrowly elliptic leaves, 2–6 cm long and 1–2 cm wide, are crowded towards the ends of the branches. The terminal, corymbose

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed ...

s bear many small yellow flowers. The ovoid fruits are single-seeded and about 3 mm long, becoming brown and dry. The main flowering season is December to January.

Distribution and habitat

The tree is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found els ...

to Australia’s subtropical

Lord Howe Island Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland ...

in the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea ( Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer ...

. It is locally common at higher elevations on Mounts Lidgbird and

Gower Gower ( cy, Gŵyr) or the Gower Peninsula () in southwest Wales, projects towards the Bristol Channel. It is the most westerly part of the historic county of Glamorgan. In 1956, the majority of Gower became the first area in the United Kingd ...

at the southern end of the island.

References

Argophyllaceae Endemic flora of Lord Howe Island Plants described in 1871 Asterales of Australia Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller {{Asterales-stub