An evergreen erect shrub 2 to 4 ft high; young shoots usually bristly and downy. Leaves oval, orbicular or obovate, toothed, 1⁄3 to 2⁄3 in. long, thick and leathery, more or less undulate, strongly veined, glabrous, apple-green; stalk very short, bristly. Flowers solitary in the terminal leaf-axils. Corolla white, 1⁄8 in. long, cylindrical, borne on a downy flower-stalk about as long as itself. Calyx-lobes ovate-oblong, pointed, usually enlarging at the fruiting stage and becoming fleshy and enclosing the seed-vessel, the whole a white or red berry-like fruit about 1⁄2 in. across.
Native of New Zealand in the North and South Islands from sea-level to 4,000 ft altitude; introduced in 1820. It is a variable shrub, especially in habit and size of leaf; the latter, on young plants raised from seed, remain for some years about 1⁄4 in. or less in length. Sometimes the upper leaves of the flower-bearing shoots are much reduced, so that the inflorescence becomes racemose at the top. It is perhaps the hardiest of the New Zealand gaultherias.
G. depressa Hook. f. G. antipoda var. depressa (Hook, f.) Hook. f. – A dwarf shrub with creeping and rooting stems. Leaves elliptical to rounded, faintly toothed, the teeth bristle-tipped, at least when the leaves are young. Fruits larger than in G. antipoda, being up to 2⁄3 in. wide, globular, white or red. A native of New Zealand, extending to about 6,000 ft; and of Tasmania, where it is less common, however. It should be hardy, but is said to be difficult and short-lived in cultivation.