| Alseuosmia | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Alseuosmia macrophylla | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Asterales |
| Family: | Alseuosmiaceae |
| Genus: | Alseuosmia A. Cunn. |
Alseuosmia is a genus of five species in the family Alseuosmiacea, growing in New Zealand's North Island. [1] Species members are characteristically small evergreen shrubs. [2] An example occurrence of species representative Alseuosmia macrophylla is in the habitat of the Hamilton Ecological District, where Blechnum discolor and Blechnum filiforme are understory elements with Nothofagus truncata and rimu overstory. [3] Other species are A. banksii, A. pusilla, A. quercifolia, and A. turneri. [1]
A genus is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, as well as viruses, in biology. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus.
Alseuosmiaceae is a plant family of the order Asterales found in Australia, New Caledonia, and New Zealand.
New Zealand is a sovereign island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses—the North Island, and the South Island —and around 600 smaller islands. It has a total land area of 268,000 square kilometres (103,500 sq mi). New Zealand is situated some 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres (600 mi) south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. Because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, and plant life. The country's varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland.
Alseuosmia was first described in 1839 from specimens collected in Northland forests by Cunningham. [1]
The Northland Region is the northernmost of New Zealand's 16 local government regions. New Zealanders often call it the Far North or, because of its mild climate, the Winterless North. The main population centre is the city of Whangarei, and the largest town is Kerikeri.
Richard Cunningham was an English botanist who became Colonial Botanist of New South Wales and superintendent of the Sydney Botanic Gardens.
A. quercifolia is the most common of the species in lowland native forest of Waikato, sometimes known as A. Hakarimata. It is an endemic shrub, found north of 38°05’S, up to 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) tall, [1] though usually under 1 m (3 ft 3 in). It has red or pink flowers of 5 petals, [4] clustered at base of leaves, [5] giving a strong scent. [6]
Waikato is a local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the northern King Country, much of the Taupo District, and parts of Rotorua District. It is governed by the Waikato Regional Council.
Hakarimata Range is a range of hills on the western edge of Ngaruawahia township, in the Waikato region of New Zealand, overlooking the confluence of the Waikato and Waipa Rivers. The Hakarimata Range is separated from the Taupiri Range by the Taupiri Gorge, through which the Waikato River flows.
Endemism is the ecological state of a species being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation, country or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. The extreme opposite of endemism is cosmopolitan distribution. An alternative term for a species that is endemic is precinctive, which applies to species that are restricted to a defined geographical area.
