Native Plants at
Piha
The Waitakere Ranges and
West Coast contain a unique range of 542 plant species in distinct
ecological habitats, ranging from the herb fields of the wind and
spray-swept coastal cliffs and the wetlands of Te Henga to the
dense sub-tropical forests of the ranges.
Index
of native plants at Piha
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Houhere - hoheria
poulnea or lacebark
Houhere on the side of Piha Road,
15 October 2000. Photo: Sandra Coney
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The houhere or lacebark is usually thought
of as a rather boring but functional tree as it is fast growing and hardy,
and for this reason, has been much used in suburban gardens. But the specimen
in this photo shows that in the right conditions, the houhere provides
a spectacular splash of white in native bush. J.T.Salmon talks about the
houhere flowering in March to May, but this specimen was found on the
side of Piha Road on 15 October 2000. Perhaps the mild winter was responsible
for many houhere revealing their presence in spectacular fashion in that
particular spring.
The houhere grows up to 11 metres high and
is erect with many branches. The trees common names comes from the lace-like
pattern of the bark, formed by inner layers of bark growing through the
outer layers. The leaves are quite light green, with a serrated edge and
prominent pattern of veins. The flowers are small and bridal white. The
following seed pods are winged.
Muriel Fisher relates that houhere are related
to hollyhocks, abutilons and hibiscus. |
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Kanuka
or teatree - Leptospermum ericoides
 Kanuka
near Pearce bach 2002
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It gets called ‘scrub’
but I’m a great lover of the tough, grey kanuka tree that plays
such a key part in the regeneration of New Zealand native bush. To me,
there’s no finer sight than a iconic stand of coastal kanuka, sculpted
by the wild westerly wind.
Kanuka can adopt many forms according to the location, from stunted and
twisted coastal cover to spreading tree. It is taller than manuka and
can grow to 15 metres in height and the trunk has distinctive stringy
silvery-grey bark. The red wood was used by Maori for many purposes including
weapons and Pakeha have used it for a multitude of purposes including
fence posts and firewood. It burns readily and throws out a good heat.
These prosaic purposes might explain why New Zealanders don’t fully
appreciate the importance of kanuka to landscapes and to the regeneration
of native bush.
The leaves are very small, elongated and grey-green, and the small white
flowers can smother the tree during the flowering season from September
to February. The hard seed capsules contain a myriad of fine hair-like
seeds which can take two years to develop and be shed. Kanuka often grow
in stands close together and as they age they break down, thus providing
shelter and gradual increasing light for broadleaves coming away underneath.
Like manuka, kanuka are an excellent nursery crop in bush regeneration.
Propagation is the same as for manuka below.
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Karaka
- Corynocarpus laevigatus
Karaka
flowers in the backyard, Piha, 2002
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Karaka is a large coastal canopy tree with rich shiny green leaves and distinctive
large yellow fruit which can smother the trees. A karaka in fruit is a fine
sight. It grows in dense forest, or in semi-exposed coastal forest or in
the open as specimens. It is beloved of the kereru – the native wood
pigeon – which can get quite tipsy on the fruit.
The karaka grows quickly and can reach 16 metres in height, but it can also
suffer from wind burn of growing tips and die back. It is a solid tree with
a stout trunk and whitish bark. The leaves are oval and thick and almost
reflectively glossy. The white flowers, born in sprays in spring, are white
but not particularly striking. The fruits are the glory of the karaka. They
ripen from January to April and are large and oval, born in trusses. They
colour from green to lemony yellow to orange as they ripen. They can litter
the ground under trees causing a nasty smell as they decay. The outer flesh
is much enjoyed by birds who will gorge on them in the trees or on the ground.
The karaka was planted by Maori because it was an important food source.
They had to process the fruits by steaming and washing to remove a particularly
lethal poison in the husks. The karaka kernels are large with a fibrous
cover. Maori also used the showy leaves to make headdresses for tangi. Interestingly,
early Pakeha settlers dubbed the karaka the laurel because of its similarity
to that tree which was also used for funerary decoration.
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Karaka fruit, Shadey
Lane, Piha
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In its natural state the seeds of the karaka germinate easily around the
parent tree and it is easy to dig these up for replanting. However, growing
karaka from seeds is also particularly satisfying. First step is to soak
the fruits in water for a couple of weeks and then rub the rotten flesh
off. This is smelly mucky work but it isn’t hard to get down to
the white fibrous kernel. These are then dried. They should be used fairly
quickly because they do not stay viable for long. They need to be stratified
before planting by putting in the fridge for 6-8 weeks, mixed with some
damp sand and put in a plastic bag or jar, before planting in spring.
Or you could put then straight into deep seed mix but they could take
a year to show some life. You need to allow for the strong tap root that
comes away by putting in seed mix to a depth of about 5 inches. The green
shoots emerge vigorously and they are not delicate as seedlings. When
you have about 4 leaves, you can carefully re-pot into a fairly large
bag. Muriel Fisher suggests sowing seed straight into the ground which
is another option if your soil is good.
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Karo
Turpentine Tree- Pittosporum crassifolium
This common coastal tree is much under-valued, it seeds profusely, establishes
easily and is handy in any coastal regeneration project. In our revegetation
project we have found it invaluable. It grows quickly, but is reasonably
robust at withstanding strong prevailing winds. As it grows strongly,
and is taller, it provides shelter for other pioneer species and ‘pulls
up’ the growth around it, creating taller bush more quickly.
The karo is small tree reaching up to 9 metres in height, the leaves are
a mid grey-green and the undersides have white hairs or tormentum. In
this respect they are similar to the pohutukawa, and to the untutored
eye, a young pohutukawa can be confused with a karo, especially cultivated
pohutukawa which suffer from the modern trend to grow them with a trunk.
The thick leathery leaves enable the karo to withstand strong salt-laden
wind and not dry out.
During September – October the karo bears trusses of deep maroon
flowers with folded back petals. They are not striking on the tree but
attractive on close inspection. They are strongly perfumed so a heavily
flowering karo can leave a delicious fragrance on the night air.
Large grey-green seed capsules develop from the flowers. These burst open
to show three or four compartments containing masses of black seeds in
a sticky bright yellow glutin.
To grow karo, pick the capsules and put in a plastic bag with a handful
of sand – fine black iron sand is best. Shake the bag, then rub
the seeds out of the capsules. It’s dirty work but less trouble
than many other native plant seeds that need to have their flesh removed.
The seeds can be put in a jar with more sand and put in the fridge for
six weeks or so. Then plant in a seed tray in the usual way.
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Kawakawa
- macropiper excelsum Family piperaceae
Kawakawa leaves showing only a few
signs of the characteristic
marks caused by chewing insects. Photo: Sandra Coney
The kawakawa is a densely branched shrub
or small tree (up to 6 metres). It is a member of the pepper family and
is related to the plant used in the Pacific to make kava, hence its name.
The fruit and leaves are highly aromatic. The Maori used the leaves as
poultices to treat bruises and decoctions of the leaves and fruit were
used for treating toothache, boils and stomach ailments.
It is a common shrub that grows in forest
under larger trees or on bush margins, although it dislikes a dry, exposed
position. It grows quickly and its seeds will germinate profusely on the
forest floor. The leaves are glossy dark green and shaped rather like
the spade in a pack of cards. They tend to get eaten by insects so that
the leaves of the kawakawa is commonly pocked with holes. Its branches
are slender and red or black with notches at intervals.
The plants bears bright yellow-orange upright
catkins much of the year. These are sought after by birds, particularly
pigeon. Sometimes a kawakawa plant will not bear the full weight of a
feeding pigeon and the branch will collapse under it.
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Kohekohe
- dysoxylum spectabile Family meliaceae
Kohekohe leaves, Pearce property.
Photo: Sandra Coney
Kohekohe grows into a large
handsome tree of 15 or more metres tall and can constitute
extensive forests in wet coastal areas just in from the sea.
There are remnants of kohekohe forest in parts of Piha, such
as in the area bounded by Rayner Road and Sylvan Glade.
There are also many kohekohe in the Nikau Glade Track area.
Kohekohe wood is related to mahogany and its wood is light,
strong and polishes to a fine red colour.
The trunk of the kohekohe is
straight, topped by a spreading canopy. The roots can spread
along the ground surface forming small
buttresses.
The leaves of kohekohe are
light green, shiny and handsome and have a strong unpleasant
smell. The flowers grow directly out of the trunk in sprays
of white waxy flowers, similar in shape to fuschia. You have
to get under the tree to see these flowers and a tree in
full flower can be a spectacular sight.
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Kohekohe flowers Rayner Road.
Photo: Sandra Coney
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The flowers develop into
green fruit that burst open in about July to September
revealing orange aril or seed pods. Each contains a dark
seed. Both flowers and seeds are liked by possum which is
threatening in terms of their reproduction.
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Kowhai - sophora
microphylla and var.fulvida
Kowhai (var fulvida) at Pearce
property, Piha, 7 October 2000. Photo: Sandra Coney
One of the showiest of native trees the
kowhai bursts profusely into bloom in spring. The blossoms are a striking
yellow and their nectar is much loved by the tui. Kowhai flower when they
are about six years old. The ensuing seedpods are distinctively long and
wavy and contain small, hard bright yellow seeds.
The tree is small, open and usually sparse with feathery grey-green leaves
which hang downwards. The leaves carry 20 to 40 pairs of leaflets arranged
in opposing pairs. Trees rarely grow more than 10 metres and are prone
to attack by borer.
Sophora microphylla var. fulvida grows only on the West Coast of Auckland.
This variety is distinguished by the dense golden-brown tomentum or hairs
covering the main stalk of the leaves.
Growing instructions:
Gather seeds when pods are dry and seeds bright or dark yellow. These
seeds need to be either covered with boiling water and soaked for a few
days, or nicked with a razor blade or sandpaper. This softens or ruptures
the hard outer shell. Sow seeds in pots or trays in autumn or spring.
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Kowhangatara
- Spinifex
Spinifex is a native sand binder
that sends out long runners on the foredunes, down to the high tide mark.
The leaves catch the sand and get buried, then they simply send up more
leaves, in this way creating stable dunes.
When large seas sweep away foredunes, spinifex acts to reform and stabilise
the dunes. Dunes formed by Spinifex are undulating and smooth.
Spinifex is a grass and the long elongated leaves are covered in soft
silvery hairs. The large seedballs which appear over summer can be seen
bowling along the dunes or beach in the wind. When these get caught and
buried, they expel their seeds, thus ensuring the widespread propagation
of the plant.
Spinifex is vulnerable to continuing heavy human trampling, and on back
dunes to competition with non-native species such as lupins and marram
grass.
Spinifex can be readily propagated through seeds, but it is also easy
to embed the seed heads in the sand and create new growth this way.
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Mahoe
- melicytus ramiflorus Family violaceae
Mahoe leaves. Photo:
Sandra Coney
The mahoe or whitey-wood is a
very widespread shrub or small tree (up to10 metres) in bush, bush margins
and open areas. It is undistinguished in many ways, lacking showy flowers
or seed, but performs a very useful function in bush and regenerating
bush. It is fire resistant and will often come away from the base after
fire has passed over it.
Its common name comes from the
whitish appearance of the bark. The leaves are serrated (see photo) and
dark green. The tiny white flowers which appear in November to January
come directly out of branches and twigs and develop into deep purple-black
seeds which are ready by March or April, and if there has been a second
crop of flowers, again in May or June.
The seeds are very easy to propagate.
Simply scrape off the flesh after soaking in water and plant in seed trays.
Mahoe bush, side of drive, Pearce property, 2002. Photo:
Sandra Coney
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Manuka
or teatree - Leptospermum scoparium
Manuka is commonly
found all over New Zealand from the coast to about 1,000 metres and is
naturally the first stage of regeneration of bush as long as imported
weeds such as gorse don’t get in the way. Manuka forms a dense resilient
shrub although it can grow to a tree of four metres in height. On our
exposed coastal land at Piha, the manuka grows on a lean, bent by the
wind. Where the wild westerlies hit hardest, it can be quite stunted,
never growing above a few feet, each tree hugging its neighbour for protection.
The leaves of manuka are small and when the leaves and branchlets are
crushed they are aromatic. Oil derived from the plant is used for a variety
of medicinal and cosmetic purposes. The flowers are white and larger than
those of kanuka and appear in abundance from October to April. The seed
capsules are divided into five parts which split open to release the seed.
The empty seed capsules can then stay on the branches of the tree for
several years. The bark is stringy like kanuka and the wood is used for
similar purposes as kanuka. Bunches of brush tied together were used by
early settlers as a house broom.
It is common to find manuka in the wild with the branches, stems and leaves
covered with a black soot. This is not a disease, but the after effect
of a scale insect which colonises the plant.
Manuka and kanuka do not transplant well. We planted hundreds of healthy
seedlings which for a short time seemed to prosper. However, almost all
eventually died. In their natural state, hundreds of seedlings will come
up per square metre then thin out as they grow. I have a theory that manuka
seeds have built in terminator genes allowing this process to occur, so
that if you plant them, they still die at their allotted time. Anyway,
it is far better to broadcast seed, either on its own or mixed with a
mulch of leaves. Alternatively, you can cut branches with seed pods, and
lay these on bare ground, pegging them down to stop them being blown away.
The leaves dropping off providing a mulch in which seeds can grow.
Gathering manuka seed is an enjoyable task. You can either shake seed
from ripe seeds into plastic bags or buckets, or cut branches and lie
on newspaper in a dry place such as the spare bedroom or shed. After a
short time, all the seed will have dropped onto the newspaper and you
can bag it up for sowing. It is a lovely russet colour.
Manuka
on Pearce regeneration site, 2002
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Ngaio -
myoporum laetum Family myoporaceae
Ngaio leaves and flowers, Piha Domain,
Photo: Sandra Coney
The ngaio is a fast-growing
shrub or small tree (up to 10 metres) that thrives on the
windy salt-laden conditions it finds on the West Coast. When
young it forms a dome-shaped shrub, as it gets old branches
break off so that the shape can become gnarled and
distorted. It is excellent as a wind-break.
The somewhat fleshy leaves
are long and shiny, with tiny white speckles during the
spring and summer. These are translucent oil glands and
Maori used these leaves, rubbed over the skin, to repel
mosquitos. The young leaves can also be made into an
infusion and used for the same purpose. The bell-shaped
flowers are small and white, with lilac dots, and appear in
November and December and sometimes April and May as well.
They develop into red then purple berries and are easy to
germinate. The ngaio also grows from cuttings.
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Nihinihi
shore or sea-bindweed or sand convolvulus - Calystegia soldanella
Nihinihi is a prostrate plant,
a member of the convolvulus family, which grows in dunes on coastal beaches
and around some inland lakes. At North Piha it grows amongst Spinifex
on foredunes well exposed to the Tasman Sea rollers, as well as further
back into the back dunes, assisting in stabilising the highly dynamic
dune system.
The stems of nihinihi often run under the sand and the fleshy, light-green
leaves protrude above it. The leaves have a thick waxy coating which helps
protect them against lashing wind and salt spray. The delicate flowers
appear over summer and are trumpet-shaped, like those of convolvulus,
and coloured white, pale pink or a very pale mauve.
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Pingao
Golden Sand Sedge - Desmoschoenus spiralis
Pingao was once common around
Piha and up and down the coast but naturally occurring plants are now
less common. Plants have been eaten by rabbits, farm animals, and pushed
out by competition with introduced sand binding plants such as marram
grass and lupins.
A sedge, and native only to New Zealand, pingao is a sand binding plant,
growing in clumps. It is less effective than Spinifex as a sand binder
because it grows in clumps and so doesn’t spread as far or as rapidly
as spinifex and the dunes are less smooth and underlating.
The golden leaves of pingao are prized by Maori for weaving kete, cloaks,
mats and tukutuku panels.
The seeds of pingao are small dark brown nuts that can be harvested in
December and seedlings grown in seed trays in light seed growing mix.
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Pohuehue
- Muehlenbeckia complexa
 This
tangled sprawling vine loves sand dunes behind the foredunes where it
forms spreading clumps, and competes with introduced kikuyu grass,. It
also likes scrambling over rocks and up low trees such as coastal manuka.
The stems are dark brown and wirey and the small light green heart-shaped
leaves grow alternately on the stems. Very small white flowers appear
from late spring to summer. They develop into small translucent fleshy
cups bearing a single black seed. These appear concurrently with the flowers.
These fleshy cups were apparently a food of Maori. It is also well liked
by caterpillars, butterflies and native moths, which lay their eggs in
the stems. Pohuehue will grow from seeds or cuttings and is one of a handful
of plants that are favoured for dune revegetation. Photo: Muehlenbeckia
growing in the dune at Mid-beach, North Piha, February 2003,
Photo Sandra Coney
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Pohutukawa
- metrosideros excelsa |
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Pohutukawa flower. December 2000, Pearce property.
Photo: Sandra Coney
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The glory of the
New Zealand summer is the majestic pohutukawa, smothered in its crimson
flowers. Pohutukawa love growing in coastal cliffs, where they'll find
a toe-hold in the most inhospitable-looking crevice in the rocks, send
down deep roots and lean out over the sea. They provide a glorious sight
fringing beaches, giving shade and a place to drape your towels and hang
your picnic baskets. They also provide groves in old sandhills back from
the beach and you can see these at Piha in Garden Road and Beach Valley
Road, both of which contain some magnificent specimens. Some of these
specimens are hundreds of years old with massive twisted branches. They
also grow deep in the coastal bush. We have a number of enormous specimens
growing with nikau, karaka and kohekohe as neighbours. They form part
of the bush canopy, visible mainly in summer when they place in the bush
turns red.
Also - See news
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Also at Piha is a unique
specimen which grows on the top of a large rock. As a young
tree it sent its roots down to the earth, some twenty feet
below and its been flourishing ever since. The tree was
quite a tourist attraction in the late nineteenth century
and early twentieth century, and the first Piha Road came
down close to it. When Piha was subdivided, the tree became
part of private property but it can still be seen as you
come down Piha Road, on the lower side of the road just past
the rocky bluff at 36 Piha Road.
Pohutukawa on a rock by old Piha Road,
about 1920.
Photo: Lediard Collection, AIM
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Young pohutukawa are bushy
and the foliage can be quite dense. As they mature the
branches spread out. The leaves are paired, and arranged in
four rows on the stem. They are deep green and leathery,
shiny on top, with a thick white tomentum underneath. The
flower clusters appear on the ends of branchlets, with many
brilliant red stamens, like a soft brush, tipped with yellow
anthers. Birds love the flowers as they are full of nectar.
When the stamens fall they form a soft red carpet under the
tree.
Typical twisted branches and stringy
grey bark of pohutukawa.
This one was photographed on the Pearce property in October 2000.
Photo: Sandra Coney
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Brilliant aerial roots on this
pohutukawa in Garden Road, October 2000.
Photo: Sandra Coney
Growing instructions
The seed capsules are distinctive, and crack
open to spill out copious quantities of tan-coloured seed. It is very
easy to gather at the right time simply by holding a paper bag under the
seed heads and shaking. Pohutukawa seeds are very easy to germinate, despite
the fact that very few take hold under the mother tree in the wild. However
if you put some seed trays of pots full of seed mix under a tree, you're
almost bound to get plenty of seedlings.
Seed is best if sown immediately and you
can just sprinkle it on a seed tray. The worst part is potting up because
if you get a good strike, you can be faced with hundreds of offspring.
When the plants are young the stems and leaf edges can be red.
It's usually best to grow trees till they're
four years old before planting out. They can take some years to flower.
Pohutukawa are also very prey to damage by possums, who install themselves
in a tree and eat the tender young leaf shoots. Even massive trees can
succumb to an attack.
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Puawananga,
the sacred flower- Clematis paniculate
Clematis is one of
the most beautiful and showy of the flowers of the New Zealand bush. It
is a hardy, woody climber with large starry white flowers that grow in
clusters of up to 100 or more blossoms which can smother tree crowns in
the bush. Maori regarded the clematis as sacred, the child of Rehua (the
star Anteres) and Puanga (the star Orion), and a harbinger of spring.
The blossoms appear in October and November. In autumn the old flower
heads are covered in attractive fluffy seeds.
Clematis can present a spectacular sight on the deep grey-green of the
New Zealand bush. Driving along the Piha Road through the Waitakere Ranges
parkland in October and November, the clematis are draped over the bush
like votive garlands. It is hard to capture this with a camera, but the
sight is truly one to gladden the heart.
The male and female flowers are found on different plants. The male flowers
are the larger and showier. The flowers don’t have petals; what
look like petals are sepals, part of the calyx of the flower. The plants
can be grown from seed, or stem cuttings. When planting clematis, make
sure their feet are in a cool, shady place.
There are 11 different types of clematis in New Zealand and they are found
in lowland and subalpine forest, usually along the margins. Flowers on
vines near the coast can be smaller than those found inland. The smaller
clematis puataua (clematis forsteri) usually appears a little later than
puawananga.
Clematis are part of the family ranunculaceae which includes buttercups
and anemone. Ranunculaceae are found in temperate areas in all parts of
the world. In many countries, clematis are brightly coloured, especially
blue and violet. Robert Laing and Ellen Blackwell (Plants of New Zealand)
suggest that the preponderance of white flowers in New Zealand is related
to the paucity of insects. On the other hand we have a great number of
night-flying moths and the authors argue that the flowers are white to
attract insects at night.
Beautiful clematis on the side of Piha Road, October 2004.
The patches
of white are clematis in full flower, Pearce property, photographed from
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Pyrrosia
serpens
This odd-looking plant was photographed on a rocky bluff on the Piha Hill.
It is also found in lowland forests and is epiphytic on trees. The brown
spots on back of the thick oval leaves are spores and appear during the
summer months.
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Rangiora
- brachyglottis repanda Family compositae
Rayner Road, August 2002. Photo:
Sandra Coney
Rangiora is a relatively common shrub or
small tree (up to 7 metres) that grows in coastal scrub and lowland forest.
It has large tough, wavy-margined leaves that are a dull grey-green above
but are covered with white hairs (tomentum) on the underside. The brittle
branches are also densely covered with white tomentum. After bruising,
the leaves were used by the Maori and early settlers as a treatment for
wounds and sores. The huge drooping panicles of creamy flowers are very
showy and appear from August to November. They have a strong sweet scent.
The flowers produce abundant nectar and attract insects and bees.
You can grow rangiora from cuttings or seed.
The rangiora likes sun and grows in open bush, bush margins and roadsides.
Huge white panicles of rangiora in flower,
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Tauhinu
- pomaderris ericifolia
(also called
P.phylicifolia var. ericifolia in the Flora of New Zealand
Vol 1, Allan)
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Tauhinu, Pearce regeneration site, October 2000
Photo: Sandra Coney
It took us a while to
identify this heather-like shrub which appeared amid the
gorse on our bush regeneration site. The name ericifolia
means heath-like leaves and it's an apt description. The
bush is wiry, up to 1 metre tall, and the very small leaves
have dense white hairs on the under-surface. It likes dry
hills which is why it would be at home on our property and
its doesn't seem to mind strong wind and hot dry summers.
The flowers appear in October and as can be seen in this
photograph, smother the bush. It's an impressive sight.
We're waiting for the seeds to have a try a growing some
more. Tauhinu is related to the kumarahou.
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Toetoe
- cortaderia toetoe
Toetoe at entrance to Marawhara Track,
North Piha, early 2000. Photo: Sandra Coney
These large handsome native grasses grow
in clumps with tall plumed flower heads that appear from November.
Toetoe like growing on sunny open sites
such as sand dunes and coastal cliffs and hills. The flower plumes are
creamy in colour and usually gracefully arched. The leaves are long, thin
and scabbard-like and have rasping edges, hence their popular name, cutty-grass.
At Piha there are impressive displays of
toetoe on Taitomo Island and on the bank just south of the entrance to
the Marawhara Track at North Piha.
Native toetoe is not to be confused with
the introduced South American pampas which invades open sites and spread
voraciously. Pampas has purple-pink seed heads although these fade to
creamy-brown. The seed heads stand straighter than toetoe and the leaves
of pampas are stiffer and narrower. The dead leaves of pampas curl into
spirals whereas those of toetoe hand straight down.
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Tutae
koau or native celery - Apium prostratum
I first came across this plant
at the far northern end of North Piha beach, growing on a sandy bank under
pohutukawa just above the high tide mark. I have never seen it before
so brought back a leaf specimen and found it in Andrew Crowe’s Which
Coastal Plant? identified as the native celery. Laing and Blackwell call
it ‘prostrate parsley’, or, just to complicate the matter,
‘Maori celery’ and Salmon calls it ‘wild celery’
- apium australe.
It does look like celery, parsley or angelica, as the glossy leaves are
shaped like the leaves of these plants and they grow similarly on stems.
The common garden celery belongs to the genus apium so is a cousin of
tutae koau.
As indicated by the ‘prostrate’ in its name, the native celery
sprawls on banks and cliffs rather than growing upright. The location
where I found it is typical (see photo). It was very close to the ocean,
which it likes, the leaves being resistant to salt and wind. It was clambering
over a sandy bank under mature pohutukawa. The flowers are small and white,
born in clusters, as shown in the close-up photograph taken in January
2005. The flowers develop into small, oval, shining seeds which ripen
from January to March.
The native celery has played an interesting role in Pakeha history as
Cook used the gave it to his crews to ward off scurvy, a potentially fatal
disease caused by a deficiency of Vit C. It was so effective that he used
it for this purpose on all his voyages. Although it is edible, Maori used
it for healing rather than as a regular part of the diet.
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Whau - entelea arborescens
Whau in full fruit on Garden Road,
early 2000. Photo: Sandra Coney
The whau is a spectacular shrub or small
tree whether in flower, in fruit or without either of these adornments.
The leaves are large and soft and the tree has a tropical appearance.
True to its exotic look, it likes to soak up the sun in a sunny corner
or gully. There are some great specimens at Piha along Garden
Road and in the gully by the wooden
bridge along Tasman
Lookout Track.
The wood of the whau is extremely light,
half as heavy as cork, and was used by Maori for floats and markers buoys
for fishing.
The showy white bisexual flowers appear
in October and the spiky brown fruit capsules develop during the summer.
Whau in flower, Garden Road, October 2000 Photo: Sandra Coney
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White
rata - Metrosideros perforata
Another member of the beautiful rata family, a vine that attaches to a
host or can grow without support into a shrub. Found in lowland and coastal
forests and forest margins, this specimen growing up a nikau was photographed
in the forest near the entrance to the Kitekite Falls Track.
The leaves and small, shiny and lined up opposite each other on the stems
as seen in the photo. This rata flowers in profusion from January to March.
The flowers are usually white, but can be pink or yellow.
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