Supplement to Eagle’s Complete Trees and Shrubs of New Zealand Additional Notes Audrey Eagle Note: Citations and abbreviations are provided (unless otherwise noted) in Eagle, A. (2006) Eagle’s Complete Trees and Shrubs of New Zealand. Te Papa Press, Wellington. Abrreviations aff. with affinity to agg. aggregate Ch Chatham Island(s) cv cultivar f. forma Is Islands K Kermadec Islands NZ New Zealand N (I) North Island N. North S (I) South Island S. South sp. species (singular) spp. species (plural) ssp. subspecies St (I) Stewart Island TK Three Kings Islands var. variety Cover illustration: Olearia albida var. angulata Profits from the sale of this publication go the the Botanical Society of Otago, who are establishing the Audrey Eagle Publishing Fund Supplement to Eagle’s Complete Trees and Shrubs of New Zealand: Additional Notes Published by the Botanical Society of Otago, Dunedin October 2006 ISBN-10: 0-473-11727-4 ISBN-13: 978-0-473-11727-6 © Audrey Eagle 2006 ii Introduction The Botanical Society of Otago is delighted to have assisted Society member Audrey Eagle with publication of this supplement to her magnificent artistic volumes. At the outset it was apparent that this was no ordinary collection of facts and figures. Instead it represents insights and contributions by some of New Zealand’s most sagacious botanical observers, and includes material hither-to unpublished. With this in mind the Society was eager to ensure this valuable resource was made readily accessible to the wider botanical community. I hope you share our enthusiasm for it. John Barkla Chairman Botanical Society of Otago Foreword Since 1967 I have been gathering comments and observations of botanical interest from numerous sources, and from many NZ botanists, including Colin Ogle, Peter Heenan, Neil Simpson, Brian Molloy, Helen & Tony Druce, Mike Bayly, Alison Kellow, and Eric Godley. These include interesting and useful information not necessarily apparent in the paintings such as important comparative differences between similar species, taxonomic notes, conservation status, threats, special features, breeding systems, regional variation (morphology, colour, etc), historical information, discoverers, cultural uses and values, hybridism, cultivation, phenology (flowering times etc), ecological notes, and much else. All this text has been updated and expanded. The design for Eagle’s Complete Trees & Shrubs of New Zealand incorporates the illustration on one page and the text on the opposite page. Everyone will agree that this layout is an advantage over that of the previous books where the illustrations were in the front section of the book and the text at the back. It was found by the new book’s designer that on pages with multiple illustrations that it was impossible to include comments as well as the descriptions on the opposite page, therefore the comments had to be removed. Shannel Courtney, DOC, Nelson inspired the concept of a Supplement containing all the additional information. Allison Knight, editor of the Newsletter of The Botanical Society of Otago carried forward this idea and Claire Murdoch, Publishing Manager of Te Papa Press, helped facilitate it. I am delighted and very grateful that the President of the Botanical Society of Otago, John Barkla and the committee were enthusiastic about the publication of the Supplement. Shelley Hill of Dunedin extracted and collated the information from my original manuscript. Some of the comments having been taken out of context required editing for consistency, amongst other things. I am most grateful to Mike Thorsen of the Botanical Society who undertook the editing assignment, with excellent results. I also wish to thank John Barkla for his overall view and comments on the draft copy. I wish to express my appreciation and gratitude to the four organizations that have generously provided funds towards the cost of the Supplement: Wellington and Nelson Botanical Societies and the Waikato and Dunedin Branches of the Royal Forest & Bird Protection Society. I am thrilled that these hard-won and informative extra notes will not be lost to the botanical community, which has been so supportive of my work. Audrey Eagle 2006 iii iv Page Name Additional Notes VOLUME I 2 Dacrycarpus When Captain Cook sailed to the head of the Firth of Thames dacrydioides he was amazed when he saw the size of the kahikatea on the Hauraki Plains and the magnificence of those forests. 8 Podocarpus totara var. This was the most prized tree of the Maori, holding the place totara of highest honour in their lore and legend. 8 P. totara var. waihoensis “Although this variety originated via hybridisation between P. acutifolius x P. totara it is now a stable entity. The leaves are halfway between the two species, not as wide as those of P. totara or as narrow as those of P. acutifolius. The bark is also intermediate between that of P. totara (thick) and of P. acutifolius (thin). It is of a smaller stature and more bushy than P. totara” (P Wardle & BPJ Molloy pers. comm.). 12 P. hallii Also known as P. cunninghamii. 14 P. nivalis Was first collected on Mt Tongariro by JC Bidwill. 16 Halocarpus kirkii First collected by Colenso in 1841. 18 H. bidwillii The flowering specimens were collected from a predominantly male tree that had a few female flowers on the lower branches. This is one of the many plants found by Bidwill, who was the first European botanist to examine the mountain vegetation of New Zealand. His specimens of bog pine were gathered in the Nelson area. 20 H. biformis All parts of the plant are resinous. According to Kirk, shepherds used to extract tar from its branches. It has been called tarwood. First collected in Dusky Sound by Menzies in 1791. 22 Dacrydium cupressinum Rimu was noted during Cook's first expedition, and was later used in his second and third voyages to brew “spruce beer”. The graceful weeping habit and conical shape of a young rimu makes it one of the easiest trees to recognise. In open places this condition is persistent for many years, in dense stands the crown is small and round. 24 Lepidothamnus First recorded by Kirk in 1867 on Mt Hirakimata, Great Barrier intermedius I. 26 L. laxifolius Is generally considered to be the world’s smallest naturally occurring conifer. 28 Manoao colensoi Also known as Lagarostrobos colensoi. 30 Phyllocladus toatoa A very distinct species forming handsome tapering trees. Although it is very local in its distribution it is surprising that it had escaped the notice of European botanists until 1865. 1 32 Phyllocladus First collected in 1826 by Allan Cunningham. trichomanoides (i) (P. trichomanoides s.s.) 34 P. trichomanoides (ii) This is the only New Zealand conifer known to be confined to ultramafic rock. 36 P. alpinus (i) Mountain toatoa was first noted by Bidwill on Tongariro. (P. alpinus s.s.) 38 P. alpinus (ii) “This form and P. alpinus (i) occur together in many areas, e.g., NW Nelson. In the Coromandel and Kaimai Ranges P. alpinus (i) is absent, in the Tararua Ranges P. alpinus (i) is absent from the area where P. alpinus (ii) grows. It is not known yet if they hybridise” (AP Druce pers. comm.). “The male branchlet came from plants growing with Gahnia pauciflora, Hebe species, Lepidothamnus laxifolius and Halocarpus biformis in an ultramafic shrub-tussock association. The small branchlet (lower left) came from plants growing with Halocarpus biformis, Leptospermum scoparium and Pseudopanax crassifolius in moist forest” (Cathy Jones pers. comm.). 42 Libocedrus plumosa When fully grown a kawaka is a noble sight with a tall, straight, naked trunk and the crown retaining its conical outline. First noted by Richard Cunningham in the Bay of Islands. 44 ARAUCARIACEAE The monkey puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana), the Norfolk Island pine (Araucaria heterophylla) and the wollemi pine (Wollemia nobilis) belong to this family. 44 AGATHIS The genus is an old lineage. Fossils suggest it was a major element in the temperate rainforest that covered much of Gondwana around 120 million years ago. 44 Agathis australis Marion du Fresne, when visiting the Bay of Islands in 1772, was the first European to definitely record the species. The tree has a high resin content in all its parts; this is the well known kauri gum. In young trees, known as kauri rickers, the crown is narrowly conical; mature trees have a flat-topped head of great branches with a spread of up to 30 m diam. This is the largest and most famous of New Zealand's timber trees. Its majestic size and huge columnar trunks with little or no taper make the kauri an awe-inspiring sight. 46 Pseudowintera colorata It often forms thickets after the forest has been destroyed because it is unpalatable to browsing mammals that eat out other regeneration like Coprosma grandifolia, Aristotelia serrata and Pseudopanax arboreus. 48 P. traversii Small-leaved horopito was first collected by HH Travers in 1882 in the hills behind Collingwood. P. insperata P. insperata was described too late for illustration. The following description is from PB Heenan & PJ de Lange (2006) Pseudowintera insperata (Winteraceae), an overlooked and rare new species from northern New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of 2 Botany 44: 89-98): “Pseudowintera insperata is described as the fourth species of the New Zealand endemic genus Pseudowintera. It is distinguished from the other three species of Pseudowintera by a combination of characters, including being a small tree with an upright habit, by the broadly ovate to broadly elliptic leaves that are glossy and without blemishes and blotches, having a conspicuous pale cream to yellow-green midvein, ciliate inflorescence bracts, an entire cupule, and black fruit. P. insperata is known with certainty from ... the vicinity of Whangarei, Northland, where it is a canopy emergent of the scrubby and windshorn forest that grows on skeletal soils and boulder fall at the base of volcanic rock tors.