Kunzea salterae

Kunzea salterae, also known by the Māori name Moutohora kānuka, is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to Moutohora Island in New Zealand. It is a much-branched shrub or small spreading tree with needle-like leaves, sprays of white flowers and small cup-shaped or urn-shaped fruit.

Description

Kunzea salterae is a densely-branched shrub or small tree which grows to a height of with a pendulous or spreading crown wide. The leaves are linear to lance-shaped, long and wide. The flowers are white and arranged in groups of between two and eight and the individual flowers are in diameter on pedicels long. The five sepals are triangular, about long and wide and the five petals are more or less round, about long and wide. Flowering occurs between August and April and the fruit is a dry, cup-shaped to urn-shaped capsule long and wide.

Taxonomy and naming

Kunzea salterae was first formally described in 2014 by Peter James de Lange and the description was published in PhytoKeys. The specific epithet honours New Zealand botanist and draughtswoman Joshua Salter of Auckland.

Distribution and habitat

This kunzea grows in shrubland and regenerating forest on Moutohora Island.

Conservation status

Kunzea salterae is listed as "threatened - nationally vulnerable" under the New Zealand threat classification series 3.