Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Ericales Bercht. & J.Presl
Family
Ericaceae
Genus
Dracophyllum Labill.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Dracophyllum strictum Hook.f., Bot. Antarct. Voy. I. (Fl. Antarct.) Part I, 48 (1844)
Synonymy:
Type: New Zealand. Mount Tongariro. J.C. Bidwill s.n. (holo: K!).
  • = Dracophyllum affine Hook.f., Bot. Antarct. Voy. I. (Fl. Antarct.) Part I, 48 (1844)
Type: New Zealand. Northern Island, mountains of the interior. Dr E. Dieffenbach s.n. (holo: K!).
  • = Dracophyllum featonianum Colenso, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 22: 477 (1890)
Type: NewZealand. Cape Runaway (Whangaparoa) a little north of East Cape, 1889. E.H. Featon s.n. (holo: K, n.v.).
  • = Dracophyllum imbricatum Colenso, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 25: 331 (1893)
Type: New Zealand. Open lands near Cape Runaway, 1892. H.T. Hill s.n. (holo: WELT 23623!; iso: K!). Note in Colenso’s hand that the WELT specimen is the type of D. imbricatum.
Etymology:
The specific epithet describes the closely packed and rigid leaves of this species.
Vernacular Name(s):
Tōtorohiti; Tōtorowhiti
 Description

Erect shrub; branches subverticillate; branchlets brown, tinged red. Lvs suberect, becoming patent to reflexed. Sheath ± 20 × 9 mm., passing by inconspicuous rounded shoulder into coriac. lamina, subglaucous below, (3·5)–10 cm. × 7–12 mm., somewhat constricted at base, rapidly widening then tapering gradually to acute or subacute ± subpungent apex; margins finely serrulate-crenulate. Panicle rather slender, erect, 5–10 × c. 2 cm.; branches spreading, short, ± pubescent. Bracts caducous. Fls rather crowded on short ± pubescent pedicels. Sepals ovate, acute, ciliolate, c. 2 mm. long; corolla-tube narrow-campanulate, c. 4 mm. long; lobes short, broad-triangular, with inflexed tips. Anthers included. Capsule depressed-globose, c. 2.5 mm. diam.

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

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Bibliography
Colenso, W. 1890: A description of some newly-discovered Phænogamic plants, being a further contribution towards the making-known the botany of New Zealand. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 22: 459–493.
Colenso, W. 1893: Phænogams: A description of some newly-discovered Indigenous plants; being a further contribution towards the making known the botany of New Zealand. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 25: 324–338.
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.
Venter, S. 2021: A taxonomic revision of the Australasian genera Dracophyllum and Richea (Richeeae: Styphelioideae: Ericaceae). Australian Systematic Botany 34: 1–205.