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Beilschmiedia tawa
Tawa
Tawa is often the dominant canopy species in lowland forests. Individual specimens may grow up to 30 metres or more in height with trunks up to 1.2 metres in diameter, and they have smooth dark bark. Its leaves are willowy green and paler underneath. Produces small inconspicuous flowers compared to the 2 - 3.5 cm long fruit of a dark red plum colour.
With such large fruits the Tawa is notable for the fact that it relies solely on the Kereru (New Zealand Woodpigeon) and, (where present), the North Island Kokako for dispersal of its seed. These are the only remaining birds from New Zealand's original biota large enough to eat the fruits of this tree and pass the seeds through their guts and excrete them unharmed.
Māori use to soak, dry and pulp the fruit for food. Tawa can also support significant epiphyte gardens in their canopies, which are one of the few habitats known to be frequented by the arboreal striped skink.
Corynocarpus laevigatus
Karaka
The bold, glossy leaves of this broadleaf tree make the karaka a distinctive feature of coastal lowland forests, however they are prominent at Rotokare too - they were planted by early Māori as a food source. The masses of large orange fruits are produced in Autumn. Seldom growing more than 30 - 40 ft high. The shining leaves grow up to 20 cm long and are generally elliptic in shape. Berries are 2.5-3.8 cm long and oval with a pulpy exterior and a harder internal seed.
In spite of the fact that the seed contains an alkaloid, "karakine", that is highly poisonous, the berries were a valued source of food for Māori. The tree was, in fact, planted by them, especially for food supplies, and was one of the very few native trees raised artificially by Māori. The poisonous principle was got rid of by prolonged cooking and washing
Alectryon excelsus
Titoki / NZ Oak
Titoki is an attractive tree (height 4 - 18 metres) with glossy dark green leaves and a spreading canopy. The Titoki tree seeds are a hairy woody capsule that splits to reveal bright red fruit and black seed. The fruit can take up to a year to mature. These trees are attractive to bees, butterflies and birds.
Māori used to bruise the seeds and then steam them to release oil. The oil was used for an earache, for eye problems, and as a lotion for a wide range of skin ailments including infant rashes, eczema, sores, sprains and wounds, rheumatism, and swellings due to bites and stings.
Weinmannia racemosa
Kamahi
A medium-sized common tree that is the dominant tree on Mt Taranaki and that's unique as virtually all New Zealand mountains have beech trees as the dominant tree, Mt Taranaki has none. The theory is the eruptions killed all the beech In Taranaki.
Weinmannia racemosa sometimes begins life as an epiphyte on the trunks of tree ferns.
It has small creamy-white flowers in erect spikes. It is a spreading tree to 25m with dark green leathery leaves. It produces masses of creamy sweet-scented flowers in summer. Kamahi bark is greyish, with white blotches and relatively smooth. Kamahi bark was a rich native source of tannins, which were used to dye cloaks and mats and to preserve fishing lines. Its timber, often protected by tapu, was durable and "lucky" for fishing rods.
Laurelia novaezelandiae
Pukatea
Can grow to a height of 40m and is the only New Zealand native tree developing large plank-buttresses. These thin triangular flanges extend up the trunk and along the roots supporting the tree's growth in swamp or shallow-soil areas.
It also has a specialised respiratory root structure called pneumatophores (roots above the ground) in certain waterlogged ground or mud. The tree's trunk is clean and straight and can obtain the diameter of >2m.
The leaves are elliptic, opposite, and are thick leathery with coarse blunt serrations. They are bright green with serrated leaf margins, a glossy top surface, and pale underneath (4-8cm x 2.5-5cm). The young leaves are light green and the adult leaves are darker. It has small (6mm) green flowers on flower stalks up to 3cm long from October to November. The genus Laurelia is unusual, with both sexes separate on the same tree, and occasionally together on the same flower. After flowering, it develops urn-shaped seed cases up to 2.5cm long which split and release hair-covered seeds which are dispersed by the wind.
In the past, the light but tough timber of Laurelia novae-zelandiae has been used for boat building. An extract from the bark containing the alkaloid pukateine is used in traditional Māori herbal medicine as an analgesic
Knightia excelsa
Rewarewa / NZ Honeysuckle
A broadleaf forest tree that grows to heights of up to 28 meters with trunks up to 1 meter in diameter. It is an attractive tree distinguished from a distance by its ascending branches. It
It has finely textured bark and the leaves of juvenile plants are linear-lanceolate (broad, but tapering to a point at both ends, like the blade of a lance), toothed, up to 30cm. long. Those on older saplings and trees are 15 cm. long, narrow-oblong, and coarsely toothed.
It has in October November deep red flowers on 10cm long flower branches with dense flower clusters, the individual flowers look like coiled spirals. It is a preferred food of possums The fruit is woody and pod-like (up to 4cm long) splitting into two halves to release wind-dispersed winged seeds. Its reddish-brown wood is dense and strong but not at all durable.
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