Fuchsia magellanica Lam.
Magellan fuchsia
Deciduous shrub to c. 4 m high, glabrous, or puberulent especially on young parts; shoots reddish. Main stems with peeling brown papery bark. Lvs not usually clustered near apex, mostly opposite, sometimes in whorls of 3; petiole to 1.5 cm long, very slender, reddish. Lamina 2-9 × 0.5-4 cm, often smaller below fls, lanceolate to ovate or elliptic, glabrous, dentate, sinuate-dentate, or occasionally almost entire, often reddish on veins; base cuneate to rounded; apex acute to acuminate. Fls solitary in upper axils, pendulous. Pedicels (1)-2-6 cm long, filiform. Floral tube 6-12 mm long, narrow- to broad-cylindric, constricted at junction with ovary, usually rose or crimson, occasionally white. Sepals 1.25-2.5 cm × (2.5)-3-7 mm, narrow- to ovate-lanceolate, usually rose or crimson, occasionally white, not reflexing. Petals (7)-9-17 mm long, obovate, usually purple, rarely pale mauve or pink, imbricate. Episepalous stamens (0.7)-2-3.5 cm long, the epipetalous ones c. 5 mm shorter; filaments pink or red. Style (2)-3-5.5 cm long, hairy or glabrous, rose; stigma ± 4-lobed. Berry 1-2 cm long, oblong, glabrous, black.
N.; S.: western regions, Cook Strait area, Otago, Southland; St.; Ch.
Temperate Chile and Argentina 1922
Scrub, plantations, roadsides, forest margins.
FL Jul-Apr.
F. magellanica was introduced early in the period of European settlement and is still cultivated widely in N.Z. It is a very variable sp. and a number of vars and many cvs have been described. Many grow well in N.Z. and the above description encompasses plants with large fls corresponding to var. macrostema (Ruíz Lopez et Pavón) Munz, and cv. 'Alba' with paler lvs, creamy white calyces and pale mauve petals. Both have been collected wild on the W. coast of the South Id and the latter also on Otago Peninsula. In addition, the sp. is a characteristic relic of cultivation. F. magellanica was first recorded wild in N.Z. as F. riccartoni, now regarded as a cv. of it.
The abundantly cultivated F. × hybrida Vilm. (probably F. fulgens × F. magellanica) is a very common relic of cultivation in old or long-abandoned settlements all over N.Z. Its many cvs are mainly distinguished from F. magellanica by the larger fls (longer floral tube and wider sepals especially).
