Prickly Mingimingi

Leptecophylla juniperina ssp juniperina

This is the pricklier of the two plants known as mingimingi on Puangiangi. It’s slightly the worse hand-hold of the two, although you know you are in trouble anyway when you are happy with a mingimingi to hold on to. This one is very common and is usually a coloniser. The other one, Leucopogon fasciculatus, seems to be more a sub-canopy shrub in the drier parts of the forest on the island. Prickly mingimingi is common throughout the country.

It’s very attractive from a respectful distance, with the contrasting new foliage in spring and the (mainly) autumn fruits being the standouts.

The fruits come in different colours, although they are near enough the same on a given shrub. We can see white, pink and red fruits and the following photos are from shrubs within 10 metres of one another.

(Part of an ongoing effort to photograph all the vascular plants on the island. Each species will get a page when I get enough reasonable photos.)