Dracophyllum fiordense, commonly known as the Fiordland grass tree, is a species of tree or shrub in the heath family, Ericaceae. It is endemic to the South Island of New Zealand. It reaches a height of and has tufts of long green leaves at the ends of its branches. Each leaf has a distinctive curled spiral tip. D. fiordense has a pyramid-shaped inflorescence (flower spike) hidden under each clump of leaves, with between 113 and 120 pink flowers on each spike, and later reddish-brown dry fruit; both are around just 2 by 2 mm. It inhabits shrubland, lowland and subalpine forests, and tussock grassland of mountain slopes, gullies, and ridges. Its range covers two main areas: one in Fiordland National Park, and one in the Mount Cook and Westland National Parks.
D. fiordense was first described by the New Zealand naturalist Walter Oliver in 1928 and placed by him in the subgenus Dracophyllum. A cladistic analysis using genetic sequencing was published in 2010, which revealed that D. fiordense is closely related to D. menziesii as Oliver had hypothesised. Its conservation status was assessed in 2017 as "Declining". The kākāpō, a flightless bird, feeds on the bases of the leaves by making careful incisions in new shoots. D. fiordense is likely pollinated by insects and its seeds are later dispersed by the wind.
Description
Dracophyllum fiordense is a tree or tall shrub that grows to heights of . Though the trunk is usually unbranched, upright-growing branches may sometimes form, particularly on plants in Westland. The bark on older sections is a greyish-brown colour; newer growth is a yellow-brown. It is often very flaky and fragmented near the base of old stems. The leaves of D. fiordense are concentrated at the ends of branches, similar to species in the family Bromeliaceae, and are leathery, deeply grooved, and shaped like a triangle. They are and have finely-toothed edges with 10–15 teeth every . The tip of each leaf is pointed and curls in a distinctive spiral.
Flowering occurs from January to March, producing an inflorescence (flower spike) that is an axillary panicle: one that is many-branched and arises between the branch and the leaf. It is pyramid-shaped and much shorter than the leaves, drooping downwards to a length between . The basal branch of the inflorescence extends horizontally outwards and is between long, and is covered in light green inflorescence bracts (specialised leaves). These bracts are egg-shaped to triangular at their bases and eventually fall off.
There are between 113 and 120 flowers on each panicle, grouped in sets of ten near the base. They hang from hairless 0.8–1.5 mm pedicels which have 4.5–5.0 by 0.8–10 mm hairless bracteoles (smaller bracts) in the middle, that later fall off. The sepals (leafy part of flower that protects it) are egg-shaped, 2.0–2.5 by 2.0–3.0 mm, which is shorter than the corolla tube, and grooved. The petals are a pinkish colour and form a 2.0–2.5 by 2.0–2.5 mm bell-shaped tube that becomes wider towards the mouth of the flower, and have reflexed lobes. The stamens are hypogynous and made up of a light yellow oblong 1.5–2.0 mm anther (pollen containing part) atop a 2.3–2.5 mm long filament. The flower has an almost globe-shaped ovary which is 0.9–1.0 by 1.3–1.5 mm, while the nectary scales are rectangularly shaped 0.6–0.7 by 0.6–0.7 mm. The style projects outwards and is long, hairless and five-lobed.
Fruiting occurs throughout the year, producing an egg-shaped brown 0.55–0.60 mm long seed which is encased within a 2.0–2.8 by 2.5–4.0 mm red-brown fruit. The fruit is globe shaped but pressed in on itself. Dracophyllum fiordense is similar to D. menziesii and D. townsonii in that its inflorescences develop below the clusters of leaves, though they are more branched than that of D. menziesii. D. traversii is also similar, but D. fiordense has a mostly unbranched stem, spiralled ends to its leaves, and an inflorescence occurring below the leaves.