Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Myrtales Juss. ex Bercht. & J.Presl
Family
Myrtaceae
Genus
Leptospermum J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.
 Subordinate Taxa
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Leptospermum scoparium J.R.Forst. & G.Forst., Char. Gen. Pl., ed. 2. 72, t. 36 (1776)
Synonymy:
  • ≡ Melaleuca scoparia (J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.) L.f., Suppl. Pl. 343 (1781)
  • = Philadelphus aromaticus Sol. ex Aiton (1789)
  • = Philadelphus scoparius var. linifolius Sol. ex Aiton (1789)
  • ≡ Leptospermum scoparium var. linifolium (Sol. ex Aiton) R.Br. ex Aiton (1811)
  • = Leptospermum floribundum Salisb. (1796) nom. illeg.
  • ≡ Leptospermum scoparium var. myrtifolium (Sol. ex Aiton) R.Br. ex Aiton (1811)
  • = Philadelphus scoparius var. myrtifolius Sol. ex Aiton
  • = Leptospermum scoparium var. forsteri S.Schauer (1841)
  • = Leptospermum scoparium var. prostratum Hook.f., Bot. Antarct. Voy. II. (Fl. Nov.-Zel.) Part I, 70 (1853)
  • = Leptospermum scoparium var. parvum Kirk, Stud. Fl. New Zealand 158 (1899)
  • = Leptospermum scoparium var. nichollii Turrill (1912)
  • = Leptospermum scoparium var. incanum Cockayne, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 49: 58 (1917)
Lectotype (designated by Schmid et al. 2023): WELTSP029389, L. Cockayne, 4 May 1905, labelled in pencil ‘Awanui Estuary Heath [?],‘Leptospermum scoparium var fructo [?] rubro & foliis pilosis L. Cockayne’ and annotated by Donald Petrie in Indian ink ‘this seems to be the type of L. scoparium var. incanum Ckn’. Isolectotypes: WELT-SP029390, WELT-SP029430, AK5497
  • = Leptospermum scoparium var. eximum B.L.Burtt (1940)
  • = Leptospermum repo de Lange & L.M.H.Schmid, Ukr. Bot. J. 78: 250 (2021)
Holotype: P.J. de Lange 15000 & T.J.P. de Lange, 12 Dec 2020, AK382940A, AK382940B, one specimen mounted on two herbarium sheets containing five parts of the same individual plant. Isotypes: NSW, UNITEC 12809
Vernacular Name(s):
Kahikātoa; Kātoa; Mānuka; Pata; Rauiri; Rauwiri; Red tea tree; Tea tree
 Description

Shrub of diverse habit, or tree up to c. 4 m high. Bark shedding in long strips. Branchlets and young lvs ± clothed in silky hairs. Lvs subsessile, ± 4–12–(20) × 1–4 mm, of 2 main forms on different plants, narrow-lanceolate or ovate, coriaceous, rigid, acute, pungent, erect to patent. Fls axillary, or occasionally terminal on branchlets, ± sessile, usually solitary. Hypanthium broadly turbinate; calyx lobes ± triangular, caducous. Petals c. 6 mm long, ± suborbicular, usually white, rarely pink, patent. Stamens c. 20, < to slightly > style; filaments much more slender than style. Ovary apex glabrous. Capsule 5-celled, 3–7 × 4–10 mm, woody, long-persistent, distinctly exserted beyond receptacle rim.

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

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Non-endemic)
Number of subspecific taxa in New Zealand within Leptospermum scoparium J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.
CategoryNumber
Indigenous (Non-endemic)1
Total1
 Phenology

Flowering: Sep.–Mar.

 Bibliography
Chagné, D.; Sara Montanari, S.; Kirk, C.; Mitchell, C.; Heenan, P; Koot, E. 2023: Single nucleotide polymorphism analysis in Leptospermum scoparium (Myrtaceae) supports two highly differentiated endemic species in Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia. Tree Genetics & Genomes 19: 31 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11295-023-01606-w. (Published online: 04 July 2023)
Cockayne, L. 1917: Notes on New Zealand floristic botany, including descriptions of new species & c. (No. 2). Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 49: 56–65.
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. [as Leptospermum scoparium var. incanum Cockayne] [Nationally Vulnerable]
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. [as Leptospermum scoparium var. incanum Cockayne] [Declining]
de Lange, P.J.; Schmid, L.M.H. 2021: Leptospermum repo (Myrtaceae), a new species from northern Aotearoa / New Zealand peat bog habitats, segregated from Leptospermum scoparium s. l. Ukrainian Botanical Journal 78(4): 247–265.
Forster, J.R.; Forster, G. 1776: Characteres Generum Plantarum quas in Itinere ad Insulas Maris Australis Collegerunt, Descripserunt, Delinearunt, Annis. Edition 2. White, Cadell & Elmsley, 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.
Kirk,T. 1899: The Students' Flora of New Zealand and the Outlying Islands. Government Printer, Wellington, N.Z.
Linnaeus, C. von, filius 1782 ("1781"): Supplementum Plantarum Systematis Vegetabilium. Orphanotrophe, Brunswig.
Schmid, L.M.H.; de Lange, P.J.; Marshall, A.J. 2023: Leptospermum hoipolloi (Myrtaceae), a new species from Aotearoa / New Zealand, segregated from Leptospermum scoparium s. l. Ukrainian Botanical Journal 80(3): 173–198.
Thompson, J. 1989: A revision of the genus Leptospermum (Myrtaceae). Telopea 3(3): 301–448.