1.
Corokia, A. Cunn.
Evergreen shrubs; branches straight or tortuous; bark black. Leaves alternate or fascicled, petiolate, entire. Flowers small, hermaphrodite, yellow, in axillary or terminal panicles, racemes, or fascicles. Calyx-tube turbinate; limb 5-lobed, valvate. Petals 5, valvate, furnished with a small scale at the base, silky outside. Stamens 5. Ovary 1–2-celled; style short; stigma almost capitate, 2-lobed. Drupe ovoid or broadly oblong, crowned by the persistent calvx-limb, 1–2-celled; seeds 1 in each cell.
A small genus of 3 species, confined to the New Zealand area.
Leaves lanceolate. Flowers in terminal panicles |
1. C. buddleoides. |
Leaves oblong-lanceolate. Flowers in axillary racemes |
2.
C. macrocarpa. |
Leaves orbicular or obovate, narrowed into short flat petioles. Flowers in few-flowered fascicles or solitary |
3.
C. Cotoneaster. |
1. |
C. buddleoides,
A. Cunn. Precur. n. 579.—An erect much-branched slender shrub 6–12 ft. high; young branchlets, undersurface of leaves, and inflorescence densely clothed with silvery-white tomentum. Leaves alternate, shortly petioled, 3–6 in. long, lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, coriaceous, dark-green and shining above; veins reticulated. Panicles terminal, leafy at the base. Flowers ¼–⅓ in. diam., yellow. Petals oblong-lanceolate. Drupe oblong, ¼ in. long, dark-red.—
Hook. Ic. Plant, t. 424;
Raoul, Choix, 46;
Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 98;
Handb. N.Z. Fl. 106;
Kirk, Students' Fl. 224.
North Island: Not uncommon in woods from the North Cape as far south as the East Cape. Sea-level to 3000 ft.
Korokia-taranga. November–December.
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2. |
C. macrocarpa,
T. Kirk, Students' Fl. 224.—An erect shrub 15–20 ft. high; branches stout, spreading; branchlets, leaves beneath, and branches of the inflorescence densely covered with silvery-white tomentum. Leaves alternate, 2–4 in. long, oblong-lanceolate to elliptic-oblong, acute or apiculate, rarely obtuse, coriaceous, gradually narrowed into rather short petioles. Flowers ⅓ in. diam., yellow, in axillary racemes shorter than the leaves;
pedicels short. Petals lanceolate, acute. Drupe ⅓ in. long, broadly oblong, dark-red.—C. buddleoides
var. b,
Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 98;
Handb. N.Z. Fl. 106;
F. Muell. Veg. Chath. Is. 16.
Chatham Islands:
Dieffenbach, H. H. Travers! Captain
G. Mair! Cox! Whakataka; Hokotaka.
Closely allied to
C. buddleoides, but amply distinct in the broader leaves, axillary racemose flowers, and larger fruit.
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3. |
C. Cotoneaster,
Raoul, Choix, 22, t. 20.—A rigid densely branched shrub 4–8 ft. high; branches tortuous and interlaced; bark black; branchlets, under-surface of leaves, and inflorescence clothed with appressed silvery-white tomentum. Leaves alternate or in alternate fascicles, ⅓–1 in. long; blade orbicular to obovate or oblong-ovate, obtuse or emarginate, coriaceous, shining above, suddenly narrowed into a broad flat petiole. Flowers small, axillary and terminal, solitary or 2–4 together; pedicels short, bracteoiate. Petals narrow linear-oblong, acute. Drupe globose, ¼ in. diam., red.—
Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 98;
Handb. N.Z. Fl. 106;
Kirk, Students' Fl. 224.
North and South Islands: Not uncommon from the North Cape to Foveaux Strait. Sea-level to 2500 ft. November–January.
What may prove to be a fourth species of
Corokia has been collected by myself at Spirits Bay, in the North Cape district. It is a twiggy bush 6–12 ft. high, with slender branches, not tortuous. Leaves alternate, ½–1½ in. long, narrow linear-obovate or oblanceolate, narrowed into very short petioles. Flowers and fruit not seen.
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