Karaka (tree)

Last updated

Karaka
A mature tree in Auckland, New Zealand (cropped).jpg
A mature tree in Glendowie
Status NZTCS NT.svg
Not Threatened (NZ TCS) [1]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Cucurbitales
Family: Corynocarpaceae
Genus: Corynocarpus
Species:
C. laevigatus
Binomial name
Corynocarpus laevigatus

Karaka or New Zealand laurel (Corynocarpus laevigatus) is a medium-sized evergreen tree in the family Corynocarpaceae. It is endemic to New Zealand and is common throughout the North Island and less common in the South Island. Karaka are also found on the Chatham Islands, Kermadec Islands, and the Three Kings Islands. It is mostly a coastal tree, though in the North Island, it can also be found in lowland inland forests.

Contents

Karaka was first described by German naturalists Johann Reinhold Forster and Georg Forster in 1776. Karaka grows to heights up to 15–20 m (49–66 ft) and has a stout trunk up to 60 cm (24 in) in diameter. Its leaves are leathery, dark to bright green in colour and up to 15–30 cm (5.9–11.8 in) long and its oval shaped orange-coloured fruit is 30–40 mm (1.2–1.6 in) in length. Karaka is a valuable food source for the kererū (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae) and the Chatham Islands pigeon (Hemiphaga chathamensis). It is naturalised and considered an invasive species in several Hawaiian islands and is mostly found on the island of Kauai. Karaka is also grown in Southern California.

Karaka is considered a taonga (cultural treasure) amongst the Māori and Moriori peoples, who used it significantly as a food source. On the Chatham Islands, carvings of Moriori ancestors were carved on to karaka trees (known as rākau momori) are considered internationally significant and unique to their culture. An exoplanet originally named HD 137388 was renamed to "Karaka" in 2019 in recognition of the tree's orange-coloured fruit.

Description

Karaka is a medium-sized evergreen leafy canopy tree with erect spreading branches. It grows to heights up to 15–20 m (49–66 ft) and has a stout trunk usually up to 60 cm (24 in) in diameter. The largest trunk's diameter ever measured was 3 m (9.8 ft). [2] [3] Karaka is predominantly a coastal tree, though in the North Island, it can also be found in lowland inland forests. [4] [5]

Mature trees have dark brown corrugated bark with corrugations that are broken up into pieces that are roughly 1 cm × 3 cm (0.39 in × 1.18 in) and 0.5 cm (0.20 in) thick. Younger trees have light brown bark that frequently has short, horizontal bands that resemble sewing stitches. Karaka's dense shade and prolific seeding exclude local species and change the host community's composition and ecological processes in areas where it has been allowed to proliferate. Karaka has an alternating elliptic oval shaped foliage that are up to 8 cm (3.1 in) wide, with petioles less than 2 cm (0.79 in) long. [6]

From August to November, karaka produces large, stout, erect panicles of tiny greenish-yellow flowers, each less than 0.5 cm (0.20 in) in diameter. It starts flowering between August to November and each panicle may have up to 100–200 flowers. [2] [3] The fruit karaka produces is oval shaped and 30–40 mm (1.2–1.6 in) in length; with pale yellow–orange coloured flesh and a poisonous seed which is smooth elliptic and sub-acute at its base. The seed has an open system of fibrous veins on the rough, yellowish surface. [7] [8]

Karaka's wood anatomy prevents them from being dated using the conventional technique of counting annual growth rings in the trunk. Karaka trees planted in Palmerston North in 1962 grew to a height of 14 m (46 ft) in 42 years. The largest stem diameter measured 26.5 cm (10.4 in), and the trees grew 0.68 mm (0.027 in) per year. Other karaka trees grew at different rates; the largest karaka treee on mainland New Zealand which was 500 years old with a diameter at breast height (DBH) of 212 cm (83 in) and a growth rate of 0.43 cm (0.17 in) per year. [6]

The fruit ripens between January and April and the seeds are mostly dispersed by two columbiform birds, the kererū and the parea, which also feeds on its fruit. In modern-day New Zealand, the majority of karaka seeds germinate within 8 m (26 ft) of a parent tree, indicating that the tree does not normally spread out very far. [9] [3]

Taxonomy

Karaka (Corynocarpus laevigatus) was first described by German naturalists Johann Reinhold Forster and Georg Forster in 1776, their description was incomplete, and the figures of the parts of the flower inaccurate. It was described from specimens collected on the second voyage of James Cook. Sir Joseph Banks and Mr. Daniel Solander, who were the botanists on the first voyage of James Cook, also brought specimens of C. laevigatus to England, where they described and figured it under the name Merretia lucida, though their work was never published. [10]

Karaka (Corynocarpus laevigatus) is a unique medium-sized tree endemic to New Zealand, unlikely to be mistaken for any other native, foreign, or naturalised tree. It can be easily identified by its orange drupes and its leathery, dark green leaves. [11] Karaka is in the Corynocarpaceae family and includes four other species in the genus; (C. similis) in Vanuatu, (C. cribbianus) in the Solomon Islands, North Eastern Queensland and Vanuatu; (C. dissimilis) in New Caledonia; and (C. rupestris) in the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland. [6]

Corynocarpaceae may have originated from a Paleotropical centre, then two separate radiations into colder climates. In the first, C. cribbianus and C. rupestris were found in Australia through New Guinea, while in the second, C. dissimilis, C. similis, and C. laevigatus were found in New Caledonia, which led to New Zealand. Fossilised Corynocarpus kernels from the early Miocene era were found at Landslip Hill in the Southland Region, indicating that the genus has a long history in New Zealand. It is possible that Corynocarpus spread from New Caledonia to New Zealand via land connections that existed in the mid-Tertiary era. [12]

Etymology

The etymology of Corynocarpus translates to English to "club fruit", and the Latin specific epithet laevigatus translates to "smooth", in reference either to the fruit of the leaf or the skin. In the Māori language, karaka can either refer to the fruit of the tree or the tree itself. Karaka is also the Māori word for the colour orange. [13] [7] In the Moriori language and on the Chatham Islands, the tree is known as kōpi. The tree is also known in English as the New Zealand laurel. [14]

Distribution

Karaka is in large numbers throughout the North Island and South Island as far south as the Banks Peninsula on the east coast of the South Island and Greymouth (on the West Coast). [4] [5] Karaka is also found on the Chatham Islands, Kermadec Islands, and the Three Kings Islands. [12] Sources generally agree that before Polynesian arrival in New Zealand, karaka was likely limited to the northern North Island, despite its current range across offshore islands and the northern South Island. [15] In the far north of New Zealand, where kauri (Agathis australis) forests are its natural vegetation type, the density of karaka is low (2.5 stems per hectare). Populations can be significantly denser further south, where karaka has spread from Māori plantings. A 2006 study by the New Zealand Journal of Botany indicated an average canopy coverage across plots in karaka stands was 41%, with a maximum cover of 75%. Its estimated altitudinal range is between 29°N and 38°S. [6] If planted, karaka can survive as far south as Dunedin. [16]

It is naturalised and considered an invasive species in Hawaii, where it is naturalised in moist soils and considered a threat to endangering rare plants such as Exocarpos luteolus . [17] [18] Karaka is also grown in Southern California. [19] [20] Karaka was introduced to Hawaii for reforestation purposes and was first naturalised to Kauai in 1891, and is still commonly found throughout the island. [19] [18] Karaka is primarily naturalised on the island of Kauai. It is also found on the islands of Hawaii, Molokai, and Oahu. [21]

Ecology

Karaka berries are a valuble food source the kereru Kereru sitting in flowering tree lucerne.jpg
Karaka berries are a valuble food source the kererū

Karaka is a valuable food source for New Zealand birds. [22] The kererū (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae) and the Chatham Islands pigeon or parea (Hemiphaga chathamensis) are the only are the only extant bird species with a gape large enough to consume the fruits of karaka. [23] The extinct moa and other large birds likely consumed karaka fruits centuries ago. [24]

A 1966 article from the Ornithological Society of New Zealand reported a New Zealand bellbird (Anthornis melanura) feeding on the sap from the bark of the karaka. [6] Other smaller New Zealand birds such as the North Island robin (Petroica longipes), silvereye (Zosterops lateralis) and whiteheads (Mohoua albicilla) are known to search around karaka trees for insects. [25] The endocarp of karaka is usually nibbled by Polynesian rat (Rattus exulans), while the larger brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) occasionally chew open the endocarps. Both species consume the flesh of karaka. [6] Possums (an invasive species in New Zealand) are also known to consume the ripe flesh of karaka berries. [26]

Relationship with humans

Cultivation

Karaka is common in cultivation and widely available for sale both in New Zealand and elsewhere in the world. [1] It was one of the most grown food crops by pre-European Māori (alongside kūmara and aruhe); they ate the drupe and seed after a long detoxification process. [27] [28] Karaka berries contain a highly toxic alkaloid called karakin. [29] Initial symptoms of poisoning include diarrhoea, nausea and restlessness which develop to more severe gastrointestinal and neurological problems. [30]

Every autumn, Māori would collect the seeds dropped from the coastal karaka trees. The seeds would be placed in open-weave traditional baskets (kete), washed in water to remove the outer pulp and baked and sun dried, a process that would remove toxicity from the seeds. [31] [32]

In Māori culture

A Moriori kopi tree carving (rakau momori ) in the Canterbury Museum Kopi tree carving, Canterbury Museum, 2016-01-27-2.jpg
A Moriori kōpi tree carving (rākau momori) in the Canterbury Museum

Māori primarily used karaka as a food source. [33] In Māori mythology, karaka is told to be from Hawaiki, an ancestral homeland for the Māori people. [16] [34] While pre-European Māori primarily valued karaka for nutrition rather than medicine, they did use leaf undersides to draw out infections and fresh upper surfaces to heal injured skin. [35] The seeds of karaka were of great value to Māori and needed to be prepared before they could be safely consumed, while the flesh of the berry was consumed uncooked. The seeds are very poisonous and bitter in taste which had to be steamed properly in earth ovens ( umu ). [4] [36] Karaka wood is used in constructing canoes ( waka ). [37]

In Moriori culture

On the Chatham Islands, karaka has played a distinguished role in the history of Moriori people; the bark of these trees has been used for making dendroglyphs. A 2000 Department of Conservation report documented 147 karaka trees with dendroglyphs on the Chatham Islands, though not all carvings were confirmed as authentically Moriori. [38] [39] Karaka (or kōpi in Moriori) is considered a taonga (cultural treasure) amongst the Māori and Moriori peoples. Carvings on karaka trees, known as rākau momori in the Moriori language, typically depict Moriori ancestors and are considered internationally significant and unique to their culture. A rāhui protects the remaining carved trees due to their fragile state, with conservation measures underway. Karaka wood was also utilised by the Moriori to smoke and preserve food. [40] [41]

Recognition

An exoplanet originally named HD 137388 was renamed to "Karaka" in 2019 in honour of the tree's orange fruit. [42] A small community 20 km (12 mi) west of Whanganui named Pākaraka is also named in honour of the tree and its name reflects the "abundance of karaka trees" that previously were situated here. [43] New Zealand Post recognised karaka in 1967 by featuring it on penny postage stamps. [44]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kōwhai</span> Eight species within the genus Sophora that are native to New Zealand

Kōwhai are small woody legume trees within the genus Sophora, in the family Fabaceae, that are native to New Zealand. There are eight species, with Sophora microphylla and S. tetraptera being the most recognised as large trees. Their natural habitat is beside streams and on the edges of forest, in lowland or mountain open areas. Kōwhai trees grow throughout the country and are a common feature in New Zealand gardens. Outside of New Zealand, kōwhai tend to be restricted to mild temperate maritime climates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chatham Islands</span> Remote New Zealand archipelago

The Chatham Islands are an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean about 800 km (430 nmi) east of New Zealand's South Island, administered as part of New Zealand, and consisting of about 10 islands within an approximate 60 km (30 nmi) radius, the largest of which are Chatham Island and Pitt Island (Rangiauria). They include New Zealand's easternmost point, the Forty-Fours. Some of the islands, formerly cleared for farming, are now preserved as nature reserves to conserve some of the unique flora and fauna.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moriori</span> Indigenous Polynesian people of the Chatham Islands

The Moriori are the first settlers of the Chatham Islands. Moriori are Polynesians who came from the New Zealand mainland around 1500 CE, which was close to the time of the shift from the archaic to the classic period of Polynesian Māori culture on the mainland. Oral tradition records migration to the Chathams in the 16th century. The settlers' culture diverged from mainland Māori, and they developed a distinct Moriori language, mythology, artistic expression and way of life. Currently there are around 700 people who identify as Moriori, most of whom no longer live on the Chatham Islands. During the late 19th century some prominent anthropologists proposed that Moriori were pre-Māori settlers of mainland New Zealand, and possibly Melanesian in origin.

<i>Alectryon excelsus</i> Species of plant

Alectryon excelsus, commonly known as tītoki, or sometimes New Zealand oak, is a shiny-leaved tree native to New Zealand. It is in the family Sapindaceae. It lives in coastal and lowland forests throughout most of the North Island and from Banks Peninsula to central Westland in the South Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kererū</span> Species of pigeon native to New Zealand

The kererū, New Zealand pigeon or wood pigeon is a species of pigeon native to New Zealand. Johann Friedrich Gmelin described the bird in 1789 as a large, conspicuous pigeon up to 50 cm (20 in) in length and 550–850 g (19–30 oz) in weight, with a white breast and iridescent green–blue plumage. Two subspecies have been recognised; the second—the Norfolk pigeon of Norfolk Island—became extinct in the early 20th century. Kererū pairs are monogamous, breeding over successive seasons and remaining together when not breeding. They construct nests with twigs in trees, with a single egg clutch.

<i>Rhopalostylis sapida</i> Species of palm

Rhopalostylis sapida, commonly known as nīkau, is a palm tree endemic to New Zealand, and the only palm native to mainland New Zealand.

<i>Piper excelsum</i> Species of tree

Piper excelsum of the pepper family (Piperaceae) and commonly known as kawakawa, is a small tree of which the subspecies P. excelsum subsp. excelsum is endemic to New Zealand; the subspecies P. e. subsp. psittacorum is found on Lord Howe Island, Norfolk Island and the Kermadec Islands.

Moriori, or ta rē Moriori, is a Polynesian language most closely related to New Zealand Māori. It is spoken by the Moriori, the indigenous people of New Zealand's Chatham Islands, an archipelago located east of the South Island. Moriori went extinct as a first language at the turn of the 20th century, but revitalisation attempts are ongoing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hāpūpū / J M Barker Historic Reserve</span> National reserve on Chatham Island, New Zealand

Hāpūpū / J M Barker Historic Reserve is one of three national historic reserves in New Zealand. It is located close to Hanson Bay at the north-eastern end of Chatham Island, the main island of the Chatham Islands. It was created in 1979 following a gift of land from a local business. This was done to protect 33 hectares of kōpi forest containing Moriori tree carvings called momori-rakau. In 1996, the reserve was officially designated as a national historic reserve, owing to the site's significance as a representation of Moriori traditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hawkins's rail</span> Extinct species of bird

Hawkins's rail, also called the giant Chatham Island rail or in Moriori as mehonui, is an extinct species of flightless rail. It was endemic to the Chatham Islands east of New Zealand. It is known to have existed only on the main islands of Chatham Island and Pitt Island. Hawkins's rail was the largest terrestrial bird native to the Chatham Islands, around 40 centimetres (16 in) tall and weighing about 2 kilograms (4.4 lb). It had a long, downward curving beak. Historic accounts likely referring to the bird by the name "mehonui" suggest that it was red-brown in colour, and it has been compared to the weka in ecological habits, using its beak to probe decaying wood for invertebrates. Hawkins's rail likely became extinct due to overhunting by the islands native inhabitants, the Moriori, and the bird is known from skeletal remains found in their kitchen middens.

<i>Entelea</i> Genus of trees

Entelea arborescens or whau is a species of malvaceous tree endemic to New Zealand. E. arborescens is the only species in the genus Entelea. A shrub or small tree to 6 m with large lime-like leaves giving a tropical appearance, whau grows in low forest along the coast of the North Island and the northern tip of the South Island. The dry fruit capsules are very distinctly brown and covered with spines. The common name whau is a Māori word that appears to derive from the common Polynesian word for hibiscus, particularly Hibiscus tiliaceus, which it superficially resembles. Alternate names include 'New Zealand mulberry', 'corkwood' and 'evergreen lime'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chatham Islands pigeon</span> Species of bird endemic to the Chatham Islands

The Chatham Islands pigeon, also known as the Chatham pigeon or parea, is a bird endemic to the Chatham Islands in New Zealand. Growing to 800g in weight and 55 cm in length, the Chatham Islands pigeon is closely related to the kererū or New Zealand pigeon, the only other species in the genus Hemiphaga.

<i>Elingamita</i> Genus of trees

Elingamita is a genus in the plant family Primulaceae. It consists of a single species, Elingamita johnsonii, a tree or shrub endemic to the Three Kings Islands approximately 55 km north of the North Island of New Zealand. The entire world natural population of the tree is confined to a small rocky island and two nearby islets, and thus is vulnerable to destruction by fire or other unforeseen events. Elingamita johnsonii grows as a shrub or small tree in pōhutukawa forest and coastal scrub on West island. It also occurs on two rocky islets of the Princes Group; on one of these islets, Hinemoa Rock, it grows as an emergent canopy tree in exposed places. The relationship of Elingamita to other genera of the Primulaceae remains to be properly established. Discovered in 1950, Elingamita johnsonii takes its name from the steamer Elingamite, which was wrecked on West Island in 1902. The natural range is currently free of rodents, but the fruit is known to be very palatable to rats.

<i>Planchonella costata</i> Species of tree

Planchonella costata is a small coastal tree native to the northern North Island and to Norfolk Island (Australia). In New Zealand, its common name is tawapou ; on Norfolk Island it is called bastard ironwood. The name costata is from the Latin costatus (ribbed), a reference to the prominently raised primary nerves of the leaves.

<i>Pennantia baylisiana</i> Species of flowering plant endemic to New Zealand

Pennantia baylisiana, commonly known as Three Kings kaikōmako or kaikōmako manawatāwhi (Māori), is a species of plant in the family Pennantiaceae. It is endemic to Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands, around 55 kilometres (34 mi) northwest of Cape Reinga, New Zealand. At the time of its discovery just one plant remained. This single tree grows on a scree slope inaccessible to browsing goats, and has been called "the world's loneliest tree". The species was discovered in 1945 by botanist Geoff Baylis and described in 1948, although it took decades before it was it was fully accepted as a distinct species of Pennantia. Although the only wild tree is female, it was successfully propagated from cuttings in the 1950s, one of which was induced to self-pollinate in 1985. Subsequent seed-grown plants have themselves set seeds, and the species has been replanted on the island, the adjoining mainland, and in public and private gardens around New Zealand.

<i>Corynocarpus</i> Genus of flowering plants

Corynocarpus is the only genus of plants in the family Corynocarpaceae and includes five species. It is native to New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, and Vanuatu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nelson Coast temperate forests</span> Ecoregion in New Zealand

The Nelson Coast temperate forests is an ecoregion in New Zealand.

<i>Corynocarpus rupestris</i> Species of flowering plant

Corynocarpus rupestris, commonly known as the Glenugie karaka, is a rainforest tree found in eastern Australia. It is a rare plant with a ROTAP rating of 2VC-t. There are two sub-species; arborescens is a small hairless shrub or tree up to 13 metres tall with a stem diameter up to 40 cm (16 in), and sub-species rupestris grows only to 6 metres, with a stem diameter up to 17 cm (6.7 in).

<i>Ripogonum scandens</i> Species of flowering plant

Ripogonum scandens is a common rainforest vine endemic to New Zealand. The species was described by Johann Reinhold Forster, and Georg Forster in 1776. It has a conservation status of Not Threatened.

References

  1. 1 2 De Lange 2012.
  2. 1 2 Rapson 2012; Kirk 1889, p. 171.
  3. 1 2 3 McAlpine et al. 2024, p. 3.
  4. 1 2 3 Metcalf 2000, p. 145; Cheesman 1906, p. 105.
  5. 1 2 Kirk 1889, p. 173.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rapson 2012.
  7. 1 2 Poole & Adams 1963, p. 128.
  8. ↑ Rapson 2012; De Lange 2012.
  9. ↑ De Lange 2012; Rapson 2012.
  10. ↑ Hemsley 1903.
  11. ↑ De Lange 2012; Cockayne 1914, p. 9.
  12. 1 2 Atherton et al. 2015, pp. 1–2.
  13. ↑ McAlpine et al. 2024, p. 3, 23.
  14. ↑ Garnock-Jones, Brockie & FitzJohn 2007, p. 6.
  15. ↑ McAlpine et al. 2024, p. 1.
  16. 1 2 Costall et al. 2006, p. 7.
  17. ↑ Sawyer, McFadgen & Hughes 2003, p. 10.
  18. 1 2 Wagner, Herbst & Sohmer 1999, p. 1952.
  19. 1 2 Little & Skolmen 1989, p. 176.
  20. ↑ Degener & Degener 1965, pp. 206–206.
  21. ↑ Gallaher et al. 2020.
  22. ↑ Sawyer, McFadgen & Hughes 2003, p. 7.
  23. ↑ McAlpine et al. 2024, p. 5.
  24. ↑ Clout et al. 1995, pp. 264–271.
  25. ↑ McAlpine et al. 2024, p. 13.
  26. ↑ Kerridge 2018.
  27. ↑ Sawyer, McFadgen & Hughes 2003.
  28. ↑ Metcalf 2000, p. 145; Reed 1963, p. 49; Colenso 1880.
  29. ↑ McAlpine et al. 2024, p. 9.
  30. ↑ Willis 2020.
  31. ↑ Colenso 1880; Reed 1963, p. 100.
  32. ↑ Laing 1906, pp. 234–235.
  33. ↑ Costall et al. 2006, p. 6.
  34. ↑ Laing 1906, p. 235.
  35. ↑ McAlpine et al. 2024, p. 10.
  36. ↑ Reed 1963; Kirk 1889, p. 172.
  37. ↑ McAlpine et al. 2024, p. 12.
  38. ↑ Jopson & McKibbin 2000, p. 8.
  39. ↑ Atherton et al. 2015, p. 12.
  40. ↑ McAlpine et al. 2024, pp. 1–2, 12.
  41. ↑ Jopson & McKibbin 2000, p. 5.
  42. ↑ Betson 2019, p. 1.
  43. ↑ Tahana 2022.
  44. ↑ McAlpine et al. 2024, p. 14.

Works cited

Websites

Books

Journals

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.