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Monoao

Dracophyllum subulatum

Monoao
Photo: Christopher Stephens, CC BY-SA 4.0

Monoao is a small shrub or tree from the central North Island of New Zealand, usually 0.3 to 2 m tall, with narrow grass-like leaves and tiny spikes of green or white flowers. It is a native wild plant rather than a common garden subject, and it suits cool, open, free-draining sites like the volcanic shrublands it grows in.

Family
Ericaceae (Heather family)
Grows as
Tree, Shrub
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Water regularly while establishing, then let the top of the soil dry slightly between waterings.
Soil
Free-draining, acidic, peaty or sandy mix.
Temperature
5–25 °C; tolerates cool temperate winters but protect from hard frost when young.
How easy
Hard
Native range
New Zealand North I.
Climate
temperate

About

Dracophyllum subulatum, commonly known as monoao, is a species of tree or shrub in the heath family Ericaceae. It is endemic to the central North Island of New Zealand.

It was first described by the British botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker in 1844, and in 1867 was placed by the New Zealand botanist William Colenso in the subgenus Dracophyllum.

Where it grows

It is endemic to the North Island of New Zealand, from Rotorua to Taihape, living in low-lying areas between volcanoes, shrubland, and tussock grassland in altitudes from 100 to 1,200m.

Other Dracophyllum plants

Dracophyllum acerosum · Tarahinau · Dracophyllum cockayneanum · Dracophyllum densum · Grass Tree · Dracophyllum filifolium · Fiordland grass tree · Fitzgerald Tree · Dracophyllum kirkii · Needle Leaved Neinei · Gumland Grass Tree · Inaka

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Dracophyllum subulatum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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