Puneet Varma (Editor)

Fuscospora cliffortioides

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Kingdom
  
Plantae

Family
  
Nothofagaceae

Species
  
F. cliffortioides

Order
  
Fagales

Genus
  
Fuscospora

Rank
  
Variety

Fuscospora cliffortioides uploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommons99cMounta

Similar
  
Fuscospora solandri, Fuscospora fusca, Lophozonia menziesii, Fuscospora truncata, Fuscospora

Fuscospora cliffortioides, commonly called Mountain beech (Māori: tawhai rauriki), is a species of Southern Beech tree and is endemic to New Zealand. Mountain beech grows in mountainous regions at high altitudes. It was known as Nothofagus solandri var. cliffortioides prior to 2013.

Mountain Beech grows to around 20 metres but near the treeline forms a "goblin forest" where the trees are no more than 2m tall. It also has leaves that are elongated and have a pointed end.

Hybrids

  • Mountain Beech is known to hybridise freely with Black Beech (Fuscospora solandri) where the two species co-exist,and in some places the hybrids may form complex introgressive hybrid swarms.
  • Mountain Beech also hybridises with Red Beech (Fuscospora fusca) to form the hybrid species Fuscospora ×blairii.

    • References

    Fuscospora cliffortioides Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA