Flora of New Zealand Series

Khasia berry

Deciduous or semi-evergreen shrub up to 4 m high; stems erect or slightly arching; young shoots densely brown-tomentose or villous but later becoming brownish grey and glabrate. Lvs crowded along stems or in fascicles, sometimes 2-ranked; petiole 2-3 mm long; blade ovate to rhombic, 13-25-(40) × 7-15-(25) mm, cuneate at base and mucronate at apex, thinly pilose above when young, later glabrous and ± shining, with veins sometimes somewhat impressed above, paler green to greyish green with indumentum of numerous long and ± appressed hairs below, often becoming sparse at maturity; margins slightly recurved and sometimes reddish; stipules lanceolate or triangular-lanceolate, densely pilose, acuminate. Fls 1-4-(5), in corymbs scattered along branches or on short shoots; peduncles brown-pilose, up to 5 mm long. Sepals c. 1-1.5 mm long, ± triangular, somewhat pilose, acuminate. Petals erect, c. 2-3 mm long, ± obovate, whitish to pale pink. Fr. obovoid to oblong-obovoid, 5-10 mm long, shining orange-red or scarlet.

N.: Volcanic Plateau (Ohakune and Tongariro), Wellington City; S.: Canterbury (foothills from Hanmer southwards, Banks Peninsula, Ashburton, Mt Cook National Park), N.E. Otago, Otago Peninsula, Southland (Lake Manapouri, Tapanui, Tahakopa); St.

Assam, Burma 1958

Scrub, wasteland, plantation and forest margins up to c. 900 m, also a garden weed.

FL Nov-Dec FT Dec-Jul.

This sp. is sometimes grown for low shelterbelts and hedges, and at a few sites naturalised plants from such sources are abundant; for example, the sp. forms a dominant understorey in some conifer plantations at Hanmer. The record of C. divaricatus Rehder from Rakaia Gorge (Given 1982) is based on a specimen of C. simonsii; true C. divaricatus is uncommon in cultivation in N.Z.