''Ascarina lucida'', commonly known as hutu is a species of small

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

in the family

Chloranthaceae Chloranthaceae is a family of flowering plants (angiosperms), the only family in the order Chloranthales. It is not closely related to any other family of flowering plants, and is among the early-diverging lineages in the angiosperms. They are ...

. It 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 elsew ...

New Zealand 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 count ...

, being common on the West Coast and Nelson regions of the South Island and more rarely found in the North Island. A typical plant association is within the

Westland Westland or Westlands may refer to: Places *Westlands, an affluent neighbourhood in the city of Nairobi, Kenya * Westlands, Staffordshire, a suburban area and ward in Newcastle-under-Lyme *Westland, a peninsula of the Shetland Mainland near Vaila ...

podocarp Podocarpaceae is a large family of mainly Southern Hemisphere conifers, known in English as podocarps, comprising about 156 species of evergreen trees and shrubs.James E. Eckenwalder. 2009. ''Conifers of the World''. Portland, Oregon: Timber Pr ...

/broadleaf forests with common understory associates of ''

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 i ...

'', ''

Pseudowintera colorata ''Pseudowintera colorata'', also known as mountain horopito or pepper tree, is a species of woody evergreen flowering trees and shrubs, part of family Winteraceae. The species is endemic to New Zealand. All Winteraceae are magnoliids, associated ...

'', ''

Pseudopanax colensoi ''Pseudopanax colensoi'' is a species of evergreen plant. This species is native to New Zealand. An example occurrence in central Westland podocarp/broadleaf forests includes flora associates such as ''Cyathea smithii'' and '' Dicksonia squarrosa ...

'' and ''

Coprosma lucida ''Coprosma lucida'', commonly known in Māori as karamū, and also known as shiny karamu, is a shrub native to New Zealand. The shrub is found throughout the North and South Island. ''Coprosma lucida'' has stipules that narrow to a small green ...

''. Most

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

members are

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...

, producing unisexual male or female flowers on separate plants. ''Ascarina lucida'', the only member of its

to occur in

, is

monoecious Monoecy (; adj. monoecious ) is a sexual system in seed plants where separate male and female cones or flowers are present on the same plant. It is a monomorphic sexual system alongside gynomonoecy, andromonoecy and trimonoecy. Monoecy is conne ...

. It will grow to a height of 6m and can have a 30 cm trunk. The leaves which are in opposite pairs are simple, yellowish green in color, have a raised mid rib and are very similar to

Laurelia novae-zelandiae ''Laurelia novae-zelandiae'', also called pukatea, is a large evergreen tree, endemic to the forests of New Zealand. Pukatea has 'toothed' leaves and produces small flowers. It is a species in the Atherospermataceae (formerly Monimiaceae) family ...

. Their margins have prominent teeth which are dark colored at the tips. ''Ascarina lucida'' is now nearly extinct in the

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth Dist ...

region but was last reported in Oct 1969 at Mt

, near Pukeiti by Colin Ogle.

Tolerance

The distribution of ''Ascarina lucida'' suggests an inability to survive severe frosts or droughts. Its environmental tolerance to climatic extremes was experimentally tested by exposing the seedlings to

frost Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a gas) ...

, drought, and waterlogged soil conditions. ''Ascarina lucida'' has a similar drought tolerance to ''

Coprosma grandifolia ''Coprosma autumnalis'' or C. grandifolia according to earlier Colenso authority, (In Māori: kanono or raurēkau) is a native forest shrub of New Zealand. Its widespread in both the North and South Islands, and has the largest leaves of any Ne ...

'', a species known to be drought intolerant; seedlings had considerable tolerance of waterlogged soils, but exhibited reduced root weights when severely waterlogged; and a

of -2 °C resulted in complete mortality for seedlings sourced from lowland and sub montane populations. Abundance of ''Ascarina lucia'' in a place can partially own to a warm, wet climate. However, the early successional nature of this species also suggests that disturbance regime plays an important role in regulating its distribution and abundance.Timothy J. Martin, John Ogden. 2005

References

* C. Michael Hogan. 2009
''Crown Fern: Blechnum discolor'', Globaltwitcher.com, ed. N. Stromberg
* Lucy B. Moore. 1977
''The flowers of "Ascarina lucida" Hook. f. (Chloranthaceae)'', New Zealand Journal of Botany, volume 15, pages 491–494
* T.E.R:R.A.I.N. 2008–2015

* Timothy J. Martin, John Ogden. 2005

Line notes

Chloranthaceae Trees of New Zealand Endemic flora of New Zealand Taxa named by Joseph Dalton Hooker {{NewZealand-plant-stub