Bushmansfriend: NZ native plant information; pictures, ecotours - Divaricating, filiramulate or flexuous plants

Recommended Books

A practical field guide to New Zealand's native edible plants. Andrew Crowe

Gardener's Encyclopaedia of NZ Native Plants by Cave, Paddison

Trees and Shrubs of New Zealand by Poole and Adams

The Reed Field Guide to New Zealand Native Trees by J.T. Salmon

High Altitude Mountain Daisies (Celmisia Semicordata), Mt Cook NP, Canterbury, New Zealand
McCormack, Gareth
18 in. x 24 in.
Buy this Photographic Print at AllPosters.com

Divaricating or filiramulate plants

Coprosma rhamnoides

Coprosma rhamnoides

A curious feature of New Zealand plants is the large number of shrubs with small leaves and flexible interlacing branches. This form or shape is termed divarication (L. divaricare: to stretch apart) or filiramulate (L. filatim: a thread, ramus: a branch). Some of these plants can alternately be described as flexuous (L. flexus: bending, turning, winding)

Divarication or filiramulation occurs across many plant families and curiously is found in some genera or species, but may not be prevalent in all the members of the genera.
There are a number of theories put forward to explain this growth form.
One idea is that it is a defensive mechanism against browsing Moa. Moa did not browse in the same way as other mammal browsers (of which New Zealand had none). Small leaved woody tangled shrubs were unpalatable to Moa, so plants that created this divaricating form were naturally selected as being advantageous.
Another theory is that this shape is advantageous in a dry, cold and windy environment, as may have been present in New Zealand in a previous ice age.
The theory that I most adhere to, as I have observed this occurring, is that this twisted small leaved form creates an ideal habitat for lizards which are the primary agent of fruit and seed dispersal. The lizards are readily able to climb throughout the plant to digest the fruit and are hidden or protected by the interwoven branches.

In some species such as miro and kaikomako the plant may be divaricating while young, but as an adult the plant assumes a more normal shrub or tree form.

Mouse over and click on the small picture for name and larger image of New Zealand native plants that have a divaricating form

Other useful links : Germination strategies A New Zealand garden Native Grasses Cultivation Guide Divaricating plants Juvenile & Adult Forms Dioecious plants NZ Botanists & plant names Proverbs & quotes Special features Photographs Information for identification

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Species list for information on native plants

Agathis australis Alectryon excelsa Alseuosmia banksii Aristotelia serrata Arthropodium cirratum Beilschmiedia tarairi Beilschmiedia tawa Brachyglottis repanda Carmichaelia Carpodetus serrata Coprosma Cordyline australis Cordyline banksii. Corynocarpus laevigatus Cyathodesfasciculata Dacrydium cupressinum Dacrydium kirkii Dianella nigra Dodonea viscosa Dysoxylum spectabile Elaeocarpus dentatus Elingamita johnsonii Entelea arborescens Fuchsia excorticata Fuchshia procumbens Gaultheria Geniostoma ligustrifolium Hebe Hedycarya arborea Hoheria populnea Kunzea ericoides Laurelia novae zelandiae Lophomyrtus Libocedrus plumosa Leptospermum scoparium Knightia excelsa Macropiper excelsum Meryta sinclairii Melicope ternata Melicope simplex Melicytus ramiflorus Metrosideros excelsa Myoporum laetum Myrsine australis Nothofagus Phormium tenax Phyllocladus trichomanoides Prumnopitys Pittosporum Pisonia brunonnianum Podocarpus dacrydioides Pratia physaloides Planchonella costata Pseudopanax Pseudowintera colorata Pomaderris kumaraho Rhabdothamnus solandri Rhopalostylis sapida Rubus Schefflera digitata Solanum aviculare Sophora microphylla Tecomanthe speciosa Toronia toru Vitex lucens Weinmannia

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