''Kunzea ericoides'', commonly known as kānuka or white tea-tree, is a tree or shrub in the myrtle

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Myrtaceae Myrtaceae (), the myrtle family, is a family of dicotyledonous plants placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, pōhutukawa, bay rum tree, clove, guava, acca (feijoa), allspice, and eucalyptus are some notable members of this group. All ...

and is

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. It has white or pink flowers similar to those of ''

Leptospermum ''Leptospermum'' is a genus of shrubs and small trees in the myrtle family Myrtaceae commonly known as tea trees, although this name is sometimes also used for some species of ''Melaleuca''. Most species are endemic to Australia, with the greate ...

'' and from its first formal description in 1832 until 1983 was known as ''Leptospermum ericoides''. The flowers have five

petal Petals are modified leaves that form an inner whorl surrounding the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly coloured or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''corol ...

s and up to 25

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s which are mostly longer than the petals.

Description

''Kunzea ericoides'' is a spreading shrub or tree, sometimes growing to a height of with bark which peels in long strips and young branches which tend to droop. The leaves are variable in shape from linear to narrow elliptic or lance-shaped, long and wide with a

petiole Petiole may refer to: *Petiole (botany), the stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem *Petiole (insect anatomy) In entomology, petiole is the technical term for the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, especially ants, bees, and ...

up to long. The flowers are white or pale pink, crowded on side branches or in the

axils A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, f ...

of upper leaves. The floral cup is covered with soft, downy hairs and is on a

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

long. There are five triangular

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...

s about long and five petals about long. There are up to 25 stamens which are , mostly longer than the petals. Flowering occurs between October and February and is followed by fruit which is a cup-shaped capsule long and wide. The capsule usually opens to release its seed when mature. ''Kunzea ericoides'' is very similar to the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n endemics '' K. leptospermoides'' and '' K. peduncularis'' which were formerly included in ''K. ericoides''. The new status of ''K. ericoides'' follows the publication of a paper entitled "A revision of the New Zealand ''Kunzea ericoides'' (

) complex" by the New Zealand botanist, Peter de Lange.

Taxonomy

Kānuka was first formally described in 1832 by the French botanist

Achille Richard Achille Richard was a French botanist, botanical illustrator and physician (27 April 1794 in Paris – 5 October 1852). Biography Achille was the son of the botanist Louis Claude Richard, Louis-Claude Marie Richard (1754–1821). He was a p ...

who gave it the name ''Leptospermum ericoides'' from a specimen he collected in New Zealand. The description was published in ''Voyage de découvertes de l'Astrolabe - Botanique''. In 1983, Australian botanist

Joy Thompson Joy Thompson (born Joy Gardiner-Garden, 1923, died 2018) was an Australian botanist. Her main research areas were taxonomy and Myrtaceae. Life and career Thompson's university studies occurred during the second world war and in university vacat ...

changed the scientific name to ''Kunzea ericoides'', describing the differences between ''Leptospermum'' and ''Kunzea'' in '' Telopea''. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

(''ericoides'') refers to the similarity of the habit of this species to that of ''

Erica arborea ''Erica arborea'', the tree heath or tree heather, is a species of flowering plant (angiosperms) in the heather family Ericaceae, native to the Mediterranean Basin and Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania in East Africa. It is also cultivated as an o ...

''. The

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...

''-oides'' is a

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

ending meaning "likeness". The taxonomic revision of the ''Kunzea ericoides'' complex identified ten species endemic to New Zealand, seven of which were new at this time. A more recent analysis of the ''Kunzea'' complex observed little genetic variation and morphological distinction between the species, questioning the evidence for ten endemic ''Kunzea'' species and suggesting further revision.

Etymology

Common names for this species include: kānuka, kōpuka, manuea, mānuka, mānuka-rauriki, mārū, rauiri, rauwiri, white tea tree, and tree manuka. ''Kānuka'' can also refer to ''

Kunzea robusta ''Kunzea robusta'', commonly known as rawirinui or kānuka, is a tree in the myrtle Family (biology), family, Myrtaceae, and is Endemism, endemic to New Zealand. It has rough, stringy, or corky bark, lance-shaped leaves that are darker on the u ...

'', it is a

doublet Doublet is a word derived from the Latin ''duplus'', "twofold, twice as much",