''Alseuosmia'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

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 inflore ...

, growing in

New Zealand's New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island country b ...

North Island. 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, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and 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 ...

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 vegetation rem ...

, 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 ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country ...

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

Nothofagus truncata ''Nothofagus truncata'', or hard beech ( mi, tawhai raunui), is a species of tree endemic to New Zealand. Its common name derives from the fact that the timber has a high silica content, making it tough and difficult to saw.John Dawson and R. Luc ...

'' and ''

Dacrydium cupressinum ''Dacrydium cupressinum'', commonly known as rimu, is a large evergreen coniferous tree endemic to the forests of New Zealand. It is a member of the southern conifer group, the podocarps. The Māori name ''rimu'' comes from the Polynesian ...

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, canopy also refers to the upper layer or habitat zone, formed by mature tree crowns an ...

. ''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 Waikato () is a local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsul ...

, sometimes known as A. Hakarimata. It is an

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 else ...

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