Fuchsia ×colensoi Hook.f.
Gynodioecious, deciduous shrub or small tree, ± erect and bushy or lianoid; trunk to c. 20 cm thick when of tree form; bark ± peeling. Branchlets hairy when young. Petioles slender, often filiform, 0.5-5.5 cm long, ± hairy, particularly on upper side. Lamina (2)-3-8-(10) × (1)-2-4 cm, usually ovate to broad-ovate or ovate-oblong, less commonly suborbicular, elliptic or lanceolate-ovate, green above, glaucous or silvery beneath, often suffused with red or purple; midrib and sometimes main lateral veins hairy beneath; base usually broad-cuneate, truncate or rounded, occasionally subcordate; apex rounded to obtuse and mucronate, or acute to acuminate. Fls solitary or few in clusters, on young shoots or ± cauliflorous, usually pendulous; pedicels 7-15 mm long, filiform. Floral tube 8-20 mm long, ± purple. Sepals 6-14 mm long, narrow-triangular, green or purplish, eventually ± reflexed. Petals 1-5 mm long, dark purple, elliptic. Stamens of ⚥ fls well-exserted; filaments 6-10 mm long, ± purple. Style 1.7-3.5 cm long, much > stamens; stigma capitate. Berry c. 10 mm long, ellipsoid-oblong, dark purple or almost black.
N.: local S. from the Waikato; S.: common throughout in many areas; St.
Endemic.
Lowland forest, especially margins, clearings and in and around remnant stands.
FL Oct-May.
The hybrid nature of F. × colensoi has not been confirmed, but plants are intermediate in size and habit between the putative parents, F. excorticata and F. perscandens. In many areas it occurs with both putative parents, but is also sometimes found where one or both are absent. It is often commoner than F. perscandens but seldom commoner than F. excorticata.
