Pseudowintera axillaris
Credits
Roderick Cameron (2025)
Recommended citation
Cameron, R. (2025), 'Pseudowintera axillaris' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Common Names
- Horopito
- Lowland Horopito
- Lowland Pepper Tree
Synonyms
- Drimys axillaris J. R. & G. Forst.
- Wintera axillaris (J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.) J.F.Gmel.
- Wintera terminalis Tiegh.
Shrub or small tree up to 8 m tall; trunks and branches upright. Bark and branchlets dark. Plants glabrous. Leaves alternate, 6–10 × 3–6 cm, base acute, apex obtuse, upper surface glossy, dark green to yellowish-green, without blemishes or blotches; midrib conspicuous, pale; undersides pale to glaucous but not white; midrib pale; lamina elliptic-oblong to elliptic-obovate to ovate-oblong to lanceolate rhomboid, margin undulate, obtuse to subacute, leathery, somewhat pungent to taste; 4–12 secondary veins either side of midrib, barely prominent on both surfaces; petiole slender, 2 cm long, dark reddish-brown. Flowers c. 1 cm diam., in axillary clusters of 1–5-(10), on slender pedicels 5–10 mm long; calyx cupule margins entire to shallowly lobed; corolla comprised of 5–(6) free petals, 5–6 mm long, narrow-oblong to narrow-obovate, greenish-yellow, apex obtuse; carpels 1–6, stigma apical; stamens 6–20. Fruit a 3–6-seeded fleshy globose to subglobose berry, 5–6 mm diameter, orange to orange-red, rarely dark. Seed 3-angled, obovate to elliptic, 2.5–3.9 mm. (New Zealand Plant Conservation Network 2025; Smith 1943; Allan 1961).
Distribution New Zealand North Island and South Island
Habitat Lowland to montane forests, typically to about 700 m, but it has been recorded at 1,000 m.
USDA Hardiness Zone 9b-10a
RHS Hardiness Rating H3
Conservation status Not evaluated (NE)
Pseudowintera axillaris differs from the more familiar P. colorata in its taller (to 8 m), often tree-like habit, and its larger leaves, dark green above and without the markings characteristic of P. colorata. The leaves are also less peppery when crushed. P. axillaris occurs on both the main islands of New Zealand. It often grows in the same habitat as P. colorata, which is generally found in areas of higher light on forest edges, while P. axillaris is a shade-loving plant growing under other trees (Oratia Native Plant Nursery 2010). Though included in Bean (1976) and listed nominally on the Royal Horticultural Society website, it does not seem to be commercially available outside New Zealand, and even there it is rare and often ‘out of stock’. It grows in Tregrehan Garden, Cornwall, UK, where a plant sourced from Marlborough Sounds, in the north of South Island at 500 m elevation, has reached about two metres tall. According to Tom Hudson (pers. comm. 2025), though the leaf undersides are not as glaucous as P. colorata, they are still impressive when moved by the wind. It is also cultivated in some New Zealand gardens (Grant 2025) and apparently in California (University of California Botanical Garden 2025).