''Olearia ilicifolia'' is a shrub or small tree

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 ...

to New Zealand. Common names include: Māori-holly, mountain holly, ''hakeke'' or ''hākēkeke'' and New Zealand holly. It is a spreading shrub or small tree of the family

Asteraceae Asteraceae () is a large family (biology), family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the Order (biology), order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchi ...

, and has largely serrated and undulating grey-green leaves. It is closely related to the sub-alpine ''

Olearia macrodonta ''Olearia macrodonta'' (mountain holly or arorangi in New Zealand, or New Zealand holly elsewhere) is a small sub-alpine evergreen tree endemic to New Zealand, from the plant family Asteraceae. It is closely related to the narrow-leaved ''Olearia ...

'', with which it shares the names mountain holly and New Zealand holly, however it is much more common than ''

''. It is found in lowland and sub-alpine forests from sea level to .

Description

Mountain holly is a much-branching, spreading shrub to small tree that grows tall. Its leaves are long, wide, with undulating and coarsely serrated margins, greyish green above. Its flowers are white with yellow centres and grow in large terminal

corymbs Corymb is a botanical term for an inflorescence with the flowers growing in such a fashion that the outermost are borne on longer pedicels than the inner, bringing all flowers up to a common level. A corymb has a flattish top with a superficial re ...

Parasites

The larvae of the New Zealand endemic

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

species '' Stigmella erysibodea''

mines Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging *Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun Mi ...

the leaves of ''O. ilicifolia.''

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7085995 ilicifolia Plants described in 1864