Flora of New Zealand Series

Aralia schefflera Spreng. Pl. Pugill. 1, 1813, 28.

S. cunninghamii Miq. in Linnaea 18, 1844, 89.

Tree up to 8 m. tall, branches stout. Lvs digitately 3-9-foliolate on sheathing petioles up to 25 cm. long; petiolules up to 2 cm. long; lamina obovate-cuneate, acuminate to obtuse, membr., sharply serrate; terminal lflt with lamina up to 20 cm. long (lvs of juvenile plants, especially in northern part of range, often irregularly lobulate to pinnatifid). Panicle-branches ∞, spreading, up to 35 cm. long; bracts and bractlets small. Umbels ∞, up to 10-fld; peduncles subsessile to c. 1 cm. long, pedicels shorter. Fls greenish, c. 7 mm. diam. Fr. subglobose, dark violet, c. 3·5 mm. diam., fleshy, grooved when dry.

DIST.: N., S., St. Lowland to lower montane forests throughout. Pate.

FL.- FT. 2-3.

The Forsters gave no locality. Forst. f. (Prodr. 1786, 23) gives "Nova Zeelandia". Type probably in P; in the type folder at K are only specimens collected by A. Cunningham.