Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Metrosideros robusta A.Cunn., Ann. Nat. Hist. 3: 112 (1839)
Synonymy:
  • = Metrosideros florida Hook., Bot. Mag. t. 4471 (1849)
  • = Metrosideros robusta var. retusa Kirk, Stud. Fl. New Zealand 162 (1899)
Vernacular Name(s):
northern rata; Rātā
 Description

Tree up to 25 m. or more tall; trunk up to 2 m. or more diam.; branchlets 4-angled, puberulous. Lvs coriac., on stout petioles ± 2 mm. long; lamina 25–50 × 15–20 mm., elliptic- to ovate-oblong, obtuse, glab. Infl. of many-fld, terminal cymes; pedicels up to c. 5 mm. long. Receptacle obconic, up to 9 mm. long; sepals broad-triangular; petals about oblong, ± 3 mm. long; stamens ± 3 cm. long, red. Ovary adnate to receptacle; capsules oblong, 6–9 mm. long, distinctly exserted, loculicidally 3-valved.

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

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Phenology

Flowering: Nov.–Jan.; Fruiting: Dec.–Jan.

 Bibliography
Cunningham, A. 1839: Florae insularum Novae Zelandiae precursor; or a specimen of the botany of the islands of New Zealand. Annals of Natural History 3: 111–115.
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. [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. [Not Threatened]
Forster 1849: Curtis's Botanical Magazine
Kirk,T. 1899: The Students' Flora of New Zealand and the Outlying Islands. Government Printer, Wellington, N.Z.