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Volume I (1961) - Flora of New Zealand Indigenous Tracheophyta - Psilopsida, Lycopsida, Filicopsida, Gymnospermae, Dicotyledons
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Fuchsia L.

FUCHSIA L., 1753

Fls us. perfect, axillary, solitary or clustered, us. pend., regular, epig., with a bell-shaped or tubular hypanthium ("calyx-tube"). Sepals and petals us. 4; stamens us. 8, exserted. Ovary 4-celled, stigma 4-lobed to capitate; berry with us. ∞ seeds. Erect or spreading shrubs or small trees, sts lianoid. Lvs simple opp. or alt. -the stipules caducous. Besides the N.Z. spp. there is one in Tahiti and some 100 ranging from Mexico to Fuegia.

Key

1
Plant with prostrate to trailing slender stems; fls apetalous, erect; berry ± 2 cm. long
1. procumbens
Plant not having all the above characters in combination
2
2
Plant a liane
2. perscandens
Plant a tree or shrub (branches may be slender and scrambling)
3
3
Plant a tree, with distinct trunk; lvs of lanceolate order, ± 5-10 cm. long
3. excorticata
Plant a shrub, much branched from base; branchlets slender, sts scandent; lvs of ovate order, seldom up to 4 cm. long
4. colensoi

The N.Z. spp. and F. cyrtandroides of Tahiti (very closely related to F. excorticata) belong to the section Skinnera (J. R. et G. Forst.) DC. Prodr. 3, 1828, 39. Skinnera J. R. et G. Forst. Char. Gen. Pl. 1776, 57, t. 29: Plants gyno-dioec.; hypanthium funnelform, swollen above ovary. Sepals reflexed, petals small or absent; filaments often far-exserted. Pollen blue. Seeds minute, ∞. Lvs alt., deciduous.

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