Flora of New Zealand Series

climbing spindle berry

Deciduous, ± glabrous climber up to 12 m high, usually dioecious or gynodioecious. Twigs green; the outermost scales of the winter buds often transformed into sharp spines 1-2 mm long. Branches terete, greyish brown. Lvs suborbicular, obovate or elliptic, obtuse to acuminate at apex, crenate, (3)-5-10 cm long. Petiole (0.5)-1-2 cm long. Cymes 1-many-flowered, shortly pedunculate, axillary. Fls c. 4-10 mm diam. Petals pale green, narrowly oblong, separated, often reduced in ♀. Capsule globose, yellow to yellow-orange, 6-8 mm diam., exposing the scarlet aril after opening.

N.: known from one recent collection only, Tairua, Coromandel.

N.E. temperate Asia 1981

Climbing spindle berry is grown as an ornamental for its brightly coloured frs. It may persist in abandoned gardens in the North and South Is.