''Pomaderris apetala'' is a small tree or large shrub from the family

Rhamnaceae The Rhamnaceae are a large Family (biology), family of flowering plants, mostly trees, shrubs, and some vines, commonly called the buckthorn family. Rhamnaceae is included in the order Rosales. The family contains about 55 genera and 950 specie ...

, growing in

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New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

. In New Zealand, ''P. apetala'' is commonly known as the New Zealand Hazel.

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

names include tainui, nonokia, and nonorangi. The name ‘Tainui’, is traditionally derived from the ''P. apetala'' plants that sprang from the skids of the ‘Tainui’ canoe used by Māori who first colonised New Zealand.

Taxonomy

Pomaderris apetala on university reserve Sandy Bay Tasmania

Pomaderris ''Pomaderris'' is a genus of about 80 species of flowering plants in the family Rhamnaceae, the species native to Australia and/or New Zealand. Plants in the genus ''Pomaderris'' are usually shrubs, sometimes small trees with simple leaves arrang ...

'' is derived from the Greek words ''poma'' and ''derris'' meaning “a lid” and “skin” respectively, referring to the membranous skin covering the capsules. The ''a'' of ''apetala'' means “without”, and ''petala'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''petalum'' which is currently used in botanical nomenclature for “petals”. Therefore ''apetala'' means ‘without petals’. ''Pomaderris apetala'' was first described in the publication

Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen ''Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen'' is a two-volume work describing the flora of Australia. Facsimiles of the originals can be found in the onlinBiodiversity Heritage Library (Vol.1)anVol 2) The author was the French botanist Jacques Labillar ...

by Jacques - Julien Houtou de Labillardière in 1805. ''Pomaderris apetala'' Labill. subsp. ''maritima'' was first described by N. G. Walsh and F. Coates in the publication New Taxa, New Combinations and an Infrageneric Classification in Pomaderris (Rhamnaceae) in 1997. The specimen used for this description was collected from the Asbestos Range National Park (now known as

Narawntapu National Park Narawntapu National Park (formerly known as Asbestos Range National Park) is a national park in the Australian state of Tasmania. It lies on Tasmania's north coast, adjoining Bass Strait, between Port Sorell in the west and the mouth of the T ...

), 1.7 km due south from the northern tip of Badger Head. ''P. apetala'' can be confused with ''P. aspera'', which has previously been used as a taxonomic synonym.

Taxa and Descriptions

''Pomaderris apetala'' Labill.

Nov. Holl. Pl. 1: 62, t.87 (1805) This plant can grow 1- 15m tall in southern Australia, but in New Zealand plants only grow up to 4m tall. Branchlets are greyish and covered in velvety brown, stellate-pubescent hairs. The trees have characteristic straight, smooth barked stems. Leaves are narrow-ovate to

elliptic In mathematics, an ellipse is a plane curve surrounding two focal points, such that for all points on the curve, the sum of the two distances to the focal points is a constant. It generalizes a circle, which is the special type of ellipse in ...

in shape, and have slightly serrated margins. Leaves are also stalked and alternately arranged. On the

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