Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Ericales Bercht. & J.Presl
Family
Ericaceae
Genus
Dracophyllum Labill.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Dracophyllum lessonianum A.Rich. in Richard, Essai Fl. Nouv.-Zél., 223 (1832)
Synonymy:
Type: New Zealand. Crescit in rupibus Novae-Zealandiae (Bay of Islands), 1827. J.S.C. Dumont D’Urville s.n. (lecto: P!; isolecto: K!, W!), designated by Oliver (1952).
  • = Dracophyllum robustum Hook.f., Bot. Antarct. Voy. I. (Fl. Antarct.) Part I, 49 (1844)
  • ≡ Dracophyllum lessonianum var. robustum (Hook.f.) Hook.f., Bot. Antarct. Voy. II. (Fl. Nov.-Zel.) Part I, 170 (1853)
Type: New Zealand: North Island. J.Edgerley s.n.(holo: K!).
Etymology:
Named for René Primevère Lesson (1794–1849), a French surgeon and naturalist.
 Description

Shrub or small tree up to 10 m. tall, stouter than . Branches erect or ascending, bark greyish; branchlets slender, bark greyish brown. Lvs crowded towards tips of branchlets. Sheath pale, 5–6–(10) × 2–3 mm., truncate, us distinctly auricled. Lamina canaliculate for ± halfway, semi-terete, ± 6–8–10 cm. × 1–1·5 mm.; margins serrulate, sparsely ciliolate; apex acute. Infl. of 6–8-fld racemes, ± 3 cm. long, terminal on short lateral branchlets, often clustered. Lower bracts lflike, persistent; sheaths c·5 × 2.5 mm., with acuminate lamina ± 10 mm. long. Sepals oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, slightly > corolla-tube, which is 5–6 mm. long. Corolla-lobes narrowly ovate-triangular, c. 2.5 mm. long, obtuse.

[From: Allan (1961) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 1.]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Bibliography
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Barkla J.W.; Courtney, S.P.; Champion, P.D.; Perrie, L.R.; Beadel, S.N.; Ford, K.A.; Breitwieser, I.; Schönberger, I.; Hindmarsh-Walls, R.; Heenan, P.B.; Ladley, K. 2018: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017. New Zealand Threat Classification Series. No. 22. [Not Threatened]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Champion, P.D.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Norton, D.A.; Hitchmough, R.A. 2013: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 3. Department of Conservation, Wellington. [Not Threatened]
Hooker, J.D. 1844–1845: The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H.M. Discovery Ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839–1843, under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross. I. Flora Antarctica. Part I. Botany of Lord Auckland’s Group and Campbell’s Island. Reeve, Brothers, London.
Hooker, J.D. 1852–1853 ("1853"): The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H.M. Discovery Ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839–1843, under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross. II. Flora Novae-Zelandiae. Part I. Flowering plants. Lovell Reeve, London.
Richard, A. 1832: Essai d'une Flore de la Nouvelle Zélande. In: Dumont d'Urville, J. Voyage de découvertes de l'Astrolabe. Botanique. Tastu, Paris.
Venter, S. 2021: A taxonomic revision of the Australasian genera Dracophyllum and Richea (Richeeae: Styphelioideae: Ericaceae). Australian Systematic Botany 34: 1–205.