Common in regenerating shrubland (oft called 'gumland' but caused here by periodic fires as much as any other edaphic reason). Image and herbarium specimen (AK 284541) from same site, representing the common, widespread race of kahikatoa that is mostly seen from the Waikato north to about Ngawha - Whangarei - Hokianga where it is replaced by Leptospermum scoparium var. incanum. This race I currently call L. aff. scoparium (a) "Auckland". It does not match the type of L. scoparium (which came from Dusky Sound, Fiordland) differing by the longer, lanceolate, hairy leaves, smaller overall growth habit and other cryptic differences. Preliminary nrDNA ITS evidence obtained from this population and others from throughout New Zealand and Tasmania supports the view that kahikatoa (Leptospermum scoparium s.l.) is divisible.