Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Apiales Nakai
Family
Araliaceae
Genus
Pseudopanax K.Koch
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Pseudopanax laetus (Kirk) Philipson, New Zealand J. Bot. 3: 338 (1965) – as laetum
Synonymy:
  • ≡ Panax arboreus var. laetus Kirk, Stud. Fl. New Zealand 219 (1899) – as laetum
  • ≡ Nothopanax laetus (Kirk) Cheeseman, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 54: 568 (1923) – as laetum
  • ≡ Neopanax laetus (Kirk) Allan, Fl. New Zealand 1, 435 (1961) – as laetum
 Description

Dioec. shrub or tree up to 5 m. or more tall, glab. in all parts. Lvs 5–7-foliolate, on purplish red petioles up to 25 cm. long, stipulately sheathing at base; lflts green above, paler below, on short stout petiolules or subsessile, thick and coriac., midribs and lateral veins evident above and below; lamina obovate- to cuneate-oblong, coarsely dentate-serrate in upper half, acute or acuminate to subacute; terminal lflt c. 12–25 × 5–10 cm. or more. Umbels compound, terminal, fls sts subracemosely disposed on secondary rays. Primary rays c. 10–15, secondary c. 15–20. Calyx truncate or obscurely 5-toothed; petals ovate-oblong; ovary 2-loculed, 2-ovuled, style-branches 2, spreading. Fr. somewhat compressed, 5 mm. or more diam.

[From: Allan (1961) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 1 as Neopanax laetus (Kirk) Allan]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Bibliography
Cheeseman, T. F. 1923: New species of flowering-plants. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 54: 565–569.
de Lange, P.J.; Norton, D.A.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Hitchmough, R.; Townsend, A.J. 2009: Threatened and uncommon plants of New Zealand (2008 revision). New Zealand Journal of Botany 47: 61–96. [Not threatened]
de Lange, P.J.; Norton, D.A.; Heenan, P.B.; Courtney, S.P.; Molloy, B.P.J.; Ogle, C.C.; Rance, B.D. 2004: Threatened and uncommon plants of New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 42(1): 45–76.
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. [Declining]
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]
Edgar, E. 1973: Names in Pseudopanax C. Kock (Araliaceae). New Zealand Journal of Botany 11: 171–172.
Kirk,T. 1899: The Students' Flora of New Zealand and the Outlying Islands. Government Printer, Wellington, N.Z.
Perrie, L.R.; Shepherd, L.D. 2009: Reconstructing the species phylogeny of Pseudopanax (Araliaceae), a genus of hybridising trees. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 52: 774–783.
Philipson, W.R.A. 1965: The New Zealand genera of the Araliaceae. New Zealand Journal of Botany 3: 333–341.