Fuchsia excorticata (J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.) L.f.

Gynodioecious, deciduous tree or shrub to ± 12 m high; trunk to 60 cm diam. Main branches stout, spreading; bark conspicuously light pinkish or brownish orange, very thin, peeling in strips; branchlets ± puberulous. Petioles slender, 1–4 cm long. Lamina (1.5)–2–14 × (0.7)–1–6.5 cm, usually lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate or ovate-oblong, usually sinuate, obscurely toothed, glabrous except on veins and margins, thin, dark green above, pale glaucous to silvery below, sometimes suffused with red or purple; base rounded or cuneately narrowed; apex acute to acuminate. Fls usually solitary, pendulous, often cauliflorous; pedicels filiform, to c. 15 mm long. Floral tube 7–20 mm long, green to ± purple at first. Sepals 5–16 mm long, ovate-lanceolate, green at first, the whole calyx turning red later, often eventually reflexing. Petals 2–5 mm long, dark purple, elliptic. Stamens of ☿ fls well exserted; filaments 7–12 mm long, purplish. Style 20–35 mm long, much > stamens; stigma capitate. Berry c. 10 mm long, ellipsoid-oblong, dark purple to almost black.

[From: Webb et al. (1988) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 4.]

Flowering: Jun.–Jan.