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Fuchsia excorticata; photograph (c) John Barkla, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) John Barkla, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-09-15

Fuchsia excorticata (J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.) L.f.

Tree fuchsia; Kōtukutuku

Onagraceae · Antipodean Is., New Zealand North +1

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Fuchsia excorticata (J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.) L.f.: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, (J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.) L.fil.

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Fuchsia excorticata, photograph (c) Stephen Hartley, some rights reserved (CC BY)Fuchsia excorticata, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedFuchsia excorticata, photograph (c) Michael Berardozzi, some rights reserved (CC BY)Fuchsia excorticata, photograph (c) Michael Berardozzi, some rights reserved (CC BY)Fuchsia excorticata, photograph (c) Michael Berardozzi, some rights reserved (CC BY)Fuchsia excorticata, photograph (c) Michael Berardozzi, some rights reserved (CC BY) 68 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-1.7°C
Record low -3.3 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
18°C
Jan and Feb at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,801mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
10–40DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Fuchsia excorticata, commonly known as the kōtukutuku and tree fuchsia, is a species of tree in the family Onagraceae that is endemic to New Zealand. It is the largest Fuchsia species and is deciduous, an uncommon trait in New Zealand plants. It reaches 13 metres (40 feet) in height with a trunk up to 70 cm (28 in) in diameter. Its range mainly covers the North, South, and Stewart Islands, but can be found as far south as the Auckland Islands. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Fuchsia excorticata", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Fuchsia

Fuchsia is a genus of flowering plants that consists mostly of shrubs or small trees.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Fuchsia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,305 mm of 1,808 mm) takes 8 months, May to December. Mean temperature moves 9.2 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: November to June.

Rain

1,808 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,305 mm of it May to December. Wettest month July at 183 mm, driest month February at 115 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,139 mm to 4,386 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,801 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,808 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 10 to 40 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 7, the highest 90th-percentile month 44).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -1.7 °C, the absolute minimum -3.3 °C, 762 frost nights in 44 years, 17.3 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 27.1 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 2.4 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range -2.3 °C to 6.4 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 18.3 °C in January and February (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -1.7 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 64 to 67% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -89 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Fuchsia excorticata through the yearWarmest months January and February, mean daily high 18 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 2.4 °C; 1,808 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°frost27.1° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-3.3° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 10–40RH 64–67%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 1042 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C18 / 15–2118 / 15–2117 / 13–1914 / 11–1711 / 8–149 / 4–128 / 4–119 / 5–1211 / 7–1313 / 9–1515 / 11–1717 / 14–19
Night °C11 / 7–1411 / 8–1410 / 6–137 / 4–115 / 1–93 / -1–72 / -2–63 / -1–74 / 0–86 / 2–97 / 4–119 / 6–13
Rain mm124 / 79–393115 / 77–290128 / 89–380136 / 87–329154 / 102–363181 / 101–383183 / 102–293170 / 97–323161 / 90–388161 / 98–421138 / 86–368157 / 94–475
DLI40 / 37–4434 / 31–3727 / 23–3019 / 15–2112 / 9–1510 / 7–1211 / 9–1316 / 13–1823 / 20–2630 / 27–3437 / 34–4139 / 36–43
RH %64 / 61–6765 / 61–6765 / 61–6866 / 62–6967 / 62–7167 / 62–7166 / 62–7166 / 62–7066 / 61–7066 / 61–6964 / 60–6865 / 61–68
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 1042 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (1783 records in those cells; 1 more cell holds records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cell is left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 2580:7110 (-39.025, 175.525). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -3.3 °C, 1st-percentile night -1.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 27.1 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 1042 distinct grid cells holding 1783 of the 1784 in-range records (1 further cell with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2580:7110 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -39.00_175.625, lapse-corrected -89 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 598 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeAntipodean Is., New Zealand North, New Zealand South · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker-38.86, 175.547 · in the densest population, 1704 records (91% of those in range)
Kew's description“tree” · “subtropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1872 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 1783 of them in the land cells it reads, of 1784 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 273 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 58 km away. 2 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 88 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 1872 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Fuchsia excorticata, photograph 1did not loadFuchsia excorticata, photograph 2did not loadFuchsia excorticata, photograph 3did not loadFuchsia excorticata, photograph 4did not loadFuchsia excorticata, photograph 5did not loadFuchsia excorticata, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Stephen Hartley, some rights reserved (CC BY); author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0; (c) Michael Berardozzi, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Aristotelia serrata Aristotelia serrata Wineberry Photo: CC BY, Felix CollinsMelicytus lanceolatus Melicytus lanceolatus Narrow-leaved Māhoe Photo: CC BY, Angus CampbellCarex uncinata Carex uncinata Cyperaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Christopher Stephens Blechnum procerum Aspleniaceae Coprosma rhamnoides Coprosma rhamnoides Twiggy coprosma Photo: CC BY-SA, Christopher StephensCoprosma rotundifolia Coprosma rotundifolia Round Leaved Coprosma Photo: CC BY-SA, Christopher Stephens

Other Fuchsia 35 in the reference

Fuchsia alpestris Fuchsia alpestris Onagraceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Michael Wolf (Webseite)Fuchsia apetala Fuchsia apetala Onagraceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Thibaud AronsonFuchsia arborescens Fuchsia arborescens Aretillo Photo: CC BY, Vítor JorgeFuchsia austromontana Fuchsia austromontana Onagraceae Photo: CC BY, Jhon A. Yuca-PalominoFuchsia ayavacensis Fuchsia ayavacensis Onagraceae Photo: CC BY, Paúl Gonzáles Fuchsia × bacillaris Onagraceae Fuchsia boliviana Fuchsia boliviana Bolivian fuchsia Photo: CC BY, Juan Carlos Caicedo HernándezFuchsia campos-portoi Fuchsia campos-portoi Onagraceae Photo: CC BY, harrierFuchsia coccinea Fuchsia coccinea Onagraceae Photo: CC BY, Daniel CahenFuchsia × colensoi Fuchsia × colensoi Onagraceae Photo: CC0, Max TweddellFuchsia corymbiflora Fuchsia corymbiflora Onagraceae Photo: CC BY, LijealsoFuchsia denticulata Fuchsia denticulata Onagraceae Photo: CC BY, RJ Baltierra all 36 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Skinnera excorticata. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Onagraceae
Described by
(J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.) L.f.
Native to
Antipodean Is., New Zealand North, New Zealand South
Wild records
1872 in range · 273 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF's key 7700511 is Fuchsia excorticata (J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.) L.fil.; the page links Kew's Fuchsia excorticata (J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.) L.f., and the name is cited as Kew cites it
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 25 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (10 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 9 at a herbarium, 6 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -39.00_175.625, lapse-corrected -89 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by its label; its IPNI identifier 612519-1 is Kew's for Fuchsia excorticata (J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.) L.f.
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 19 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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