First described by botanists Georg and Johann Foster in 1776 as Dicera serrata, Walter Oliver gave its current binomial name in 1921.

Flowers has 4 to 6 mm diam; petals 3-lobed; stigma with 3-4 lobes; stamens numerous, arising from a glandular disc.

[3] Female flowers are borne in large panicles, on short shoots just above leaves or old leaf scars, on 2 year old wood of the upper leafy branchlets.

[3]The wineberry was first described by Georg and Johann Foster in their 1776 Characteres Generum Plantarum as Dicera serrata.

[6] It was given its current binomial name Aristotelia serrata by Walter Oliver in a 1921 article, who argued it was the name used to describe it most.

[9][10] Taking advantage of ecological disturbances such as natural tree falls A. serrata is plentiful in regenerating forest and damp river margins.

[4] Wineberry acts as a host to numerous associated plant species and is fed on by native birds and insects.

[13] The berries of the wineberry are not the only parts eaten: kawakawa looper (Cleora scriptaria) larvae can be found feeding on its leaves.

Māori used makomako medicinally by boiling its leaves as an application to burns and infected wounds.

[10] The berries serve as food and are often eaten by children, and can be squeezed to make a thick sweet drink.

[4] European settlers burnt the shoots of the wineberry, changing the wood to charcoal for the production of gunpowder.