User:Morgan Fergus/Aristotelia fruticosa



Aristotelia fruticosa, the mountain wineberry or shrubby wineberry, is a subalpine tree-shrub of the most variable habitat from New Zealand, in the family Elaeocarpaceae. It grows up to 2 m in a densely branching and divaricating form.

Description
A. fruticosa is a vascular plant, belonging to the structural class of trees and shrubs and the flowering group dicotyledons. A. fruticosa is a variable much branched shrub, erect or low growing and described as twiggy, bushy and sometimes spiny in appearance, reaching up to 2 m in height. The trunk and branches can sub-divaricate, diverging at wide angles and spreading apart, or can be upright, becoming rigid or entangled. Bark and branchlets are reddish brown and pubescent.

The leaves of A. fruticosa are ovate or oblong in shape. Leaves of adults are 5-10 mm in length and 4-5 mm in width, and are shiny green above, and dull and paler beneath. Above, the midvein of the leaf is not clearly visible but below, the midvein and secondary vein are obvious. Leaf position is opposite or opposite in clusters, leaf margins can be smooth or toothed. Young plants have impressive leaf variables, ranging from long and narrow to short and broad in shape, with deeply toothed margins. Petioles, the stalk that attaches the leaf blade to the stem is 2 mm long. The lamina, the expanded flat component of the leaf containing the chloroplasts can be either 5-7 mm x 4-5 mm, obovate to oblong in shape, resembles or has the texture of leather, and is dark green in colour.

The flowers of A. fruticosa are pendant shaped and tiny, just a few mm in diameter, arranged in small clusters, with a lateral position along the branchlets of the plant. Flowers are attached by short stalks 1-2 mm in length. Each flower has four creamy or pink serrated petals, the sepals which enclose each petal are oblong and pubescent, and each flower has 4-6 stamens. Its berries are opaque and not shiny, 3-4 mm in diameter, with colours that vary from white, pink, red, and black between plants. These fleshy seeded berries are irregularly angled and are somewhat bitter in taste.

Distribution
A. fruticosa is endemic, found in all three Islands of New Zealand. Widespread and common in Canterbury and Westland, and often localised in occurrence. Habitat is mostly montane to subalpine scrub, shrubland, and forest. A. fruticosa ranges in elevation, and is more common at higher altitudes, descending to low altitudes in some places. Changes in form are thought to be due to the extreme sensitiveness of A. fruticosa to the altering environment of which they are located.

Similar to other small leaved shrubs species, and like many New Zealand plants, A. fruticosa can resemble a twisted Coprosma during one of its growth stages. The leaves of its seedlings can sometimes be similar to A. racemosa. A. colensoi is an intermediate species between A. racemosa and A. fruticosa, and is a likely hybrid. Many hybrids were also discovered as a result of the crossing between A. fruticosa and A. serrata. The twelve species of this genus are scattered between Australia, New Hebrides and South America, and two other members of the family Elaeocarpaceae, which are mainly found in tropical habitats and of the large genus Elaeocarpus are endemic to New Zealand.

Life Cycle
A. fruticosa is dioecious, meaning the plant has male and female reproductive organs in separate individuals. A. fruticosa flowers from October to December, and its berries ripen from February to April.

Interactions
Berries of A. fruticosa are dispersed by frugivory. Above the treeline a small amount of seeds were dispersed by Kea, as identified in the birds excrement. Blackbirds and Chaffinch were observed consuming the fruit of A. fruticosa. Seeds were also dispersed by smaller birds inhabiting lower altitudes, by excreting the plants seeds. It's thought that the Moa and Kakapo, which were historically widespread in New Zealand, could have also been important frugivores for A. fruticosa.

Further information
Etymology of A. fruticosa is as follows: Aristotelia is named after Aristotle, the Greek philosopher and polymath; fruticosa is shrubby, referring to the plants shrubbyness.

The flora of New Zealand features has many peculiarities, perhaps the most interesting is the occurence in New Zealand flora of small tangle-branched or divaricating shrubs. Many species with this growth form have less or no leaves in their outer canopy, with most leaves being found in the interior of the plant. There is speculation to this phenomenon, one hypothesis is attributed to the effects of the recently extinct Moa, as A. fruticosa was a divaricate species in the browse zone of the Moa.

The current conservation status of A. fruticosa is that the plant is not considered endangered as of 2012.