Ascarina lucida, commonly known as hutu, is a species of shrub or small tree in the family Chloranthaceae. It is endemic to New Zealand; its range mostly covers the western coast of the South Island. It is also found in the North Island, but is uncommon there. It inhabits lowland and montane forests, and grows in various soil types. It reaches a height of up to 8 metres (30 feet) and the glossy leaves have tipped teeth on their margins.
A. lucida (hutu) is a species of monoecious shrub or small tree, reaching heights of up to 8 metres (30 feet) with a trunk of up to 300mm in diameter.[1] Its bark is pale and smooth.[2] Branchlets are slender and dark purple in colour.[1]A. lucida's wood is reddish-brown in colour, straight-grained, and is noted to be tough and strong.[3] The largest A. lucida specimens are estimated to have a lifespan of about 130 years.[4]
Its petioles are 8–10mm long. Its laminae are coriaceous (leather-like) in character, 20–80×15–38mm long, elliptic to oval to obovate in character; the surface of the leaves are a glossy yellow-green colour (rarely dark green), and the serrations are dark purple-black or maroon in colour.[1] Leaves are yellow-green in colour and glossy.[1] Its inflorescences (flower clusters) are found in spikes and are arranged oppositely, its branches are 30–40mm long.[3]
Flowers are green or red-tinged in colour and 0.8–1.2mm long. The male flowers have one cylindrical anther which is 2.5–3.0mm long; the female flowers are smaller.[5] Fruits are fleshy white-coloured drupes which are 2.5–3.0mm long, broadly ovoid in character, and contain one seed.[1][3]A. lucida has a diploid chromosone count of 26.[1]
Phytochemisty
Soltis & Bohm (1982) first investigated the phytochemistry traits of the species and discovered that A. lucida contains various flavanoids, including quercetin and kaempferol.[6]A. lucida's flavonoid structures are compareable to those for members of other angiosperm families Lauraceae, Saururaceae, and Piperaceae, as such, several studies, including Soltis & Bohm (1982), suggested a close relationship between Chloranthaceae and these families.[7]
The Ascarina genus likely diverged thirty-one million years ago.[10] There are two recognised subspecies of A. lucida: A. lucida var. lucia which is endemic to mainland New Zealand and A. lucida var. lanceolata which is endemic to the Kermadec Islands.[8]Ascarina species occur principally on the Pacific Islands, except one species that is found in Madagascar. Zhang et al. (2011), based on plastid DNA analysis, divided Ascarina into two main clades (groups); one lineage consisting of A. solmsiana and A. coursii were assigned to section 'Madagascarina', the other lineage had not been well-studied, although A. lucida and A. polystachya are considered to be part of a sister group, meaning A. lucida's closest relative is A. polystachya of the Society Islands.[11][12]
Etymology
The etymology (word origin) of A. lucida's genus, Ascarina, derives from the Latinascris, which refers to intestinal roundworms; the genus name refers to the worm-shaped anthers of the plants.[13] The specific epithet (second part of the scientific name), lucida, derives from the Latin lucidus, meaning 'shining', and refers to the shining characteristic of the leaves.[13] The species is commonly known as hutu, which comes from the Māori language.[1][3]
Ecology
The native silvereye bird consumes the fruits of A. lucida.
A. lucida's fruits are dispersed by fruit-eating animals (frugivores), such as birds.[14] Burrows (1996) recorded that A. lucida's fruits were consumed in abundance by silvereyes (Zosterops lateralis).[15]A. lucida is wind-pollinated, with no evidence of insect pollination, except honeybees (Apis mellifera) visiting the plant.[16]
Moore (1977) studied the floral structure of A. lucida, which was further investigated by Garnock-Jones et al. (2025).[17][18]A. lucida is confirmed to be monoecious, meaning male and female flower structures are found on the same plant, it was previously thought to be dioecious, meaning individual trees are either male or female.[18][19]
A. lucida's environmental tolerance to climatic extremes was experimentally tested by exposing the seedlings to frost, drought, and waterlogged soil conditions. A. lucida exhibits similar drought tolerance to Coprosma autumnalis, a species known for its drought intolerance. A. lucida seedlings showed tolerance to waterlogged soils, they experienced significantly reduced root biomass under severe waterlogging. Additionally, exposure to a frost of −2°C caused the seedlings to die out.[20]A. lucida's germination rates depend on its environmental location. A 2002 study noted that submontane populations had a germination rate of 76 percent, while seeds from lowland populations had a rate of 32 percent.[21]
A. lucida is typically found in lowland and montane forests.[1] In the South Island, A. lucida does not occur at altitudes above 300m (980ft), however, in the North Island it may reach altitudes of 850m (2,790ft).[24] In the Auckland Region, it occurs from 20–600 metres (70–2,000 feet) above sea level.[25] It grows in various soil types and is principally found in podocarp-hardwood forests in sheltered sites. A. lucida is found in areas with an annual rain fall of 1,500mm.[26][25]
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