Name this New Zealand plant?
- To: "m*@ucdavis.edu"
- Subject: Name this New Zealand plant?
- From: R* S*
- Date: Sat, 13 Nov 1999 02:20:45 -0800
For those of you familiar with New Zealand flora -
I would like to identify a shrub/tree I encountered in the forest near
Queenstown, and all I have is a leaf. The leaves, however, are very
striking in appearance. The only specimens I saw were about 3 meters
tall, not bushy, but with a few branches, growing in deep shade. I saw
several, but there were not a lot of this tree/shrub. The leaves are
alternate, and the stem seems to make a slight change of direction at
each node (somewhat like a Cercis occidentalis). The leaves are about 2
cm wide by slightly less than 3 cm long, generally oval, but slightly
curved; margins with a tiny tooth at the end of each vein and a very
slight indentation in the margin above each tooth. What was
particularly striking about the appearance was the coloration: they
definitely had a marbled or variegated look, which is apparent from
quite a distance. The leaves are a very light but bright yellowish
green, with very dark green areas along all the veins and midrib. They
are pale on the underside. I asked a ranger at a DOC office, and she
said it might be a Putaputaweta . The photo I saw in my guidebook of
this tree, didn't show the marbling of the leaf however. I wondered if
the new leaves just showed the marbling effect more stronly than older
leaves, or leaves in a mature specimen. Would really like to find out
what it is for sure, and possibly obtain seeds for growing it here..
Richard Starkeson johnsaia@dnai.com
Berkeley, California
