Akapuka is a generally sturdy spreading coastal shrub growing up to 6m tall with steady growth producing 3m height within ten years. Usually multileader and bushy, it will gradually shed leaders and grow taller on one or two trunks.  The thick glossy bright green oval leaves make a large lush verdant cover for them.

This hardy shrub flowers in October through to December. Male and female flowers grow on separate plants (dioecious), and appear as inflorescences (multiple flowers on a branched stem). Male inflorescences have yellowish five-petalled tiny flowers on a 10cm stem and are longer than female inflorescences which have minute non-petalled flowers. 

The dark purple fruit (7mm by 5mm) ripens from December to August and consists of a single tough seed inside a fleshy covering. Birds waste no time with this harvest and eat their fill, unwittingly becoming the dominant method of seed dispersal.

This dispersal method suits Griselinia lucida very well since it most often starts life as an epiphyte nestled into a tree hollow very high up – usually puriri, hinau, tawa, kahikatea, kohekohe and even Ti Kouka. The seeds germinate in small moist hollows on their host and take up the nutrients available in their little nooks. Once it’s settled the seedling sends roots to the ground. Roots have distinctive parallel ridging on them and they may be as much as 10-20cm in diameter. In order to remain stable, the seedling also sends out horizontal roots to encircle its host and better anchor itself. Akapuka also grows very happily in the ground and in the wild it is most often found on bluffs and other rocky formations, growing on these sites into its largest proportions. On such sites Akapuka establishes a net-like root system on the surface extending into crevices and if within range, to soil.

You’ll find this rugged shrub on coastal lowlands up to 500m, and while it’s distributed across both main islands, it tends to be quite localised. It tolerates wind, salt, moderate frost and dry spells.

This handsome tropical-looking shrub adores equally full sun, or shade. When grown on good soil it can establish a straggly habit but judicious pruning controls this.