Some flowers for your ____. Thank you for all you do! ~~~~
Refine
Dracophyllum fiordense is a tree or tall shrub that grows to heights of 1.5–5.0 metres (5–16 feet). Though the trunk is usually unbranched, upright-growing branches may sometimes form, particularly on plants in Westland. The bark on older sections is a greyish-brown colour; newer growth is a yellow-brown. It is often very flaky and fragmented near the base of old stems. The leaves of D. fiordense are concentrated at the ends of branches, similar to species in the family Bromeliaceae, and are leathery, deeply grooved, and shaped like a triangle. They are 40–70 by 4–5 centimetres (16–28 by 1.6–2.0 inches) and have finely-toothed edges with 10–15 teeth every 1 cm (0.4 in). The tip of each leaf is pointed and curls in a distinctive spiral.[1]
Flowering occurs from January to March, producing an inflorescence (flower spike) that is an axillary panicle: one that is many-branched and arises between the branch and the leaf. It is pyramid-shaped and much shorter than the leaves, drooping downwards to a length between 10 and 15 cm (4 and 6 in). The basal branch of the inflorescence extends horizontally outwards and is between 2 and 5 cm (0.8 and 2.0 in) long, and is covered in light green inflorescence bracts (specialised leaves). These bracts are egg-shaped to triangular at their bases and eventually fall off.[1]
There are between 113 and 120 flowers on each panicle, grouped in sets of ten near the base. They hang from hairless 0.8–1.5 mm pedicels which have 4.5–5.0 by 0.8–10 mm hairless bracteoles (smaller bracts) in the middle, that later fall off. The sepals (leafy part of flower that protects it) are egg-shaped, 2.0–2.5 by 2.0–3.0 mm, which is shorter than the corolla tube, and grooved. The petals are a pinkish colour and form a 2.0–2.5 by 2.0–2.5 mm bell-shaped tube that becomes wider towards the mouth of the flower, and have reflexed lobes. The stamens are hypogynous and made up of a light yellow oblong 1.5–2.0 mm anther (pollen containing part) atop a 2.3–2.5 mm long filament. The flower has an almost globe-shaped ovary which is 0.9–1.0 by 1.3–1.5 mm, while the nectary scales are rectangularly shaped 0.6–0.7 by 0.6–0.7 mm. The style projects outwards and is 1.8–2.0 mm (0.07–0.08 in) long, hairless and five-lobed.[1]
Fruiting occurs throughout the year, producing an egg-shaped brown 0.55–0.60 mm long seed which is encased within a 2.0–2.8 by 2.5–4.0 mm red-brown fruit. The fruit is globe shaped but pressed in on itself.[1]Dracophyllum fiordense is similar to D. menziesii and D. townsonii in that its inflorescences develop below the clusters of leaves, though they are more branched than that of D. menziesii. D. traversii is also similar, but D. fiordense has a mostly unbranched stem, spiralled ends to its leaves, and an inflorescence occurring below the leaves.[2]
Things that don't matter:
Leaf sheaths
Hairlessness
Details, including tiny measurements, regarding granular aspects of the morphology (eg. The types of apices of the lobes on the corolla)
de Lange, Peter (2012). "Dracophyllum fiordense". New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. Retrieved 12 September 2021.((cite web)): CS1 maint: url-status (link)
A 1982 study found that the fruit are eaten (off the ground) by North Island brown kiwi(Apteryx mantelli) who, they argued, likely use the seeds as grinding agents to help break down food in their gizzards.[3]Walter Buller noted in his 1873 book A history of the birds of New Zealand that he had found E. dentatus fruit in the gizzards of the now extinct Huia. Buller, along with one 1977 study on Kāpiti Island, recorded that the Kākā feed extensively on the drupes.[4][5]
mainland and those that live on E. dentatus drupes are an important food source especially in March and, for males, from March all the way until June. This is thought to be because of the different shaped mandible which females have as the fruit actually harden in the months following March, meaning the females are unable to break into them to get at the developing seed, the part that Kākā eat. They also rely heavily on Hīnau and Tawa to feed their young, both because of their prevalence on the island and their abundant crop of fruit. Weka(Gallirallus australis) eat the fruit which falls onto the ground and are thought to be very important dispersers after the extinction of many of New Zealand's other flightless birds. Hīnau seeds may also germinate better after the coat has been torn open and the Weka's gizzard might have a similar effect, though more research is needed.[6] The extremely hard endocarp is thought to be for protection inside the digestive systems of large flightless birds who acted as another disperser by eating fallen fruit. It is also possible, however, that it is to balance the over-eating of their fruit by parrots, like the Kākā, who one study found to have been found digesting an average of 7.1 seeds per minute in March.[5][7]Kererū also eat the fruit and act as a disperser, though not to the degree Weka do.[6]
Buller noted that the extinct bird the Laughing owl feed primarily on it.[8]
Other
Kōkako eat both the leaves and fruit, though they make up a very small proportion of the bird's varied and complex diet.[9] In New Zealand forests the trunks of trees are crucial to flightless invertebrates who use them as a way to reach the canopy for food and breeding. One 1983 study which trapped these invertebrates coming up and down Hīnau trees found that the most prevalent species coming up were Springtails, followed by Wasps and ants, Spiders, Beetles and Weevils and Mites. Coming down the trunk the most common were the mites, making up 15%. Followed by larvae, springtails, and harvestmen.[10]
^Buller, Walter Lawry; Keulemans, J. G. (John Gerrard); Keulemans, J. G. (John Gerrard); Library of Congress, former owner DSI (1873). A history of the birds of New Zealand. Smithsonian Libraries. London : John Van Voorst.
^Michael James Thorsen, Katharine J.M. Dickinson and Philip J. Seddon. "Seed dispersal systems in the New Zealand flora". Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics. 11: 302 – via Researchgate.
The New Zealand botanist Peter Wardle suggested the a potential reason for the hair on the leaves, which aren't present on the similar species D. longifolium, could be to prevent sea spray from damaging them whilst they are still a bud. In addition, [1]