Kohekohe | |
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Kohekohe (Didymocheton spectabilis) | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Sapindales |
Family: | Meliaceae |
Genus: | Didymocheton |
Species: | D. spectabilis |
Binomial name | |
Didymocheton spectabilis (G.Forst.) Mabb. & Holzmeyer (2021) | |
Synonyms [1] | |
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Kohekohe (Didymocheton spectabilis) is a medium-sized tree in the Meliaceae family, native to New Zealand. [2] It is found in lowland and coastal forests throughout most of the North Island and also occurs in the Marlborough Sounds in the north of the South Island. Mature trees grow up to 15 metres (49 ft) in height, with a trunk up to a metre in diameter. [3]
The name kohekohe is derived from Proto-Polynesian *kofe meaning a type of bamboo ( ʻohe ); its thickening leaf stem bases may have reminded early Polynesian settlers to those of the ʻohe. [4] A fairly close relative of true mahogany ( Swietenia ), it is also called New Zealand mahogany, because its wood is light, strong and polishes to a fine red colour. [5]
Kohekohe is notable for having characteristics normally associated with trees growing in the tropics, for example, its flowers and fruit grow directly from the trunk or branches (known as cauliflory), and it has large, glossy, pinnate leaves up to 40 cm in length. The inflorescences of kohekohe may be up to 30 cm long, and the flowers produce a strong sweet smell. [6] The large green fruit takes around fifteen months to ripen. The fruit contains three or four cells containing a seed encased in a fleshy orange-coloured aril. The tree does not flower in the year while the fruit capsules are maturing, and therefore individual trees may flower in alternate years. [7]
Kohekohe forest used to be common in damp coastal and lowland areas in the North Island, but these forests have mostly disappeared because the land was used for settlement or they were browsed by possums. [5] Studies have shown rapid recovery in kohekohe canopy after implementation of possum control. [8]
Māori boiled the bark in water and drank it as a tonic. [2] The wood was used for building canoes but is soft and not as durable as other woods and tends to rot quickly. It is valued for carving. Kohekohe was probably the dominant vegetation cover on Kapiti Island before it was cleared in the early 19th century for cultivation and farming. The kohekohe forest on Kapiti is recovering after possums were eradicated in 1986.
Kohekohe was first described by Georg Forster in 1786 as Trichilia spectabilis, [1] [9] and was transferred to the genus, Dysoxylum , in 1864 by Joseph Hooker. [1] [10] A study published in 2021 found that Dysoxylum was paraphyletic, and the species was reclassified into the revived genus Didymocheton. [11] [1]
Meliaceae, the mahogany family, is a flowering plant family of mostly trees and shrubs in the order Sapindales.
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.
Vitex lucens, or pūriri, is an evergreen tree endemic to New Zealand.
Karaka or New Zealand laurel 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.
Cauliflory is a botanical term referring to plants that flower and fruit from their main stems or woody trunks, rather than from new growth and shoots. It is rare in temperate regions but common in tropical forests.
Dysoxylum is a genus of rainforest trees and shrubs in the flowering plant family Meliaceae. About 34 species are recognised in the genus, distributed from India and southern China, through southeast Asia to New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Australia. The name Dysoxylum derives from the Greek word ‘Dys’ meaning "bad" referring to "ill-smelling" and ‘Xylon’ meaning "wood".
Fuchsia excorticata, commonly known as tree fuchsia, New Zealand fuchsia and by its Māori name kōtukutuku, is a New Zealand native tree belonging to the family Onagraceae. It is commonly found throughout New Zealand and as far south as the Auckland Islands. It grows from sea level up to about 1,000 m (3,300 ft), particularly alongside creeks and rivers. It is easily recognised in its native environment by the characteristic appearance of its bark, which peels spontaneously, hanging in red papery strips to show a pale bark underneath. Its scientific name, excorticata, reflects this distinctive property.
Didymocheton fraserianus, commonly known as rosewood or rose mahogany, is a medium-sized to large tree native to New South Wales and Queensland. It is widely used with the purpose of street design and to provide shade in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. Rosewood ranges from the rainforest around eastern Australia from Bundaberg in Queensland to Wyong in New South Wales. At maturity, it can reach a height of 57 metres (200 ft). It is generally known for its strong scent of rose from its bark.
Didymocheton is a genus of flowering plants in the family Meliaceae. It includes 41 species which range from eastern India through Indochina and southern China to Malesia, Papuasia, eastern Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific.
Didymocheton muelleri, the red bean or Miva mahogany, is a rainforest tree in the family Meliaceae. It occurs in tropical, sub-tropical and littoral rainforests in eastern Australia, from the Bellinger River in New South Wales in the south, to the wet tropics of north-eastern Queensland. A signposted red bean tree may be seen near the car park of Victoria Park Nature Reserve in north-eastern New South Wales.
Didymocheton pachyphyllus is a small tree in the family Meliaceae, endemic to Lord Howe Island. It grows up to 15 m (49 ft) tall, and is found at all elevations on the island.
Didymocheton rufus is a rainforest tree in the family Meliaceae, found in eastern Australia. It occurs on a variety of different soils and rainforest types. From as far south as Bulahdelah, New South Wales to the McIlwraith Range in far north eastern Australia. The specific epithet rufus refers to the rusty red of the leaf, fruit and flower hairs of this species.
Didymocheton pettigrewianus, commonly known as spur mahogany, spurwood, or Cairns satinwood, is a large tree in the family Meliaceae. It is native to the rainforests of Malesia, Papuasia and Queensland. In Queensland it occurs only in a small part of the northeast coast.
Goniocheton arborescens, commonly known in Australia as Mossman mahogany, is a small tree in the mahogany family Meliaceae. It is native to rainforests of Malesia, Papuasia, Queensland and nearby islands.
Didymocheton mollissimus is a species of tree in the family Meliaceae. It ranges from eastern India and Bangladesh to southern China, Myanmar, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, the Lesser Sunda Islands, and the Philippines, where it grows in lowland tropical moist forests.
Epicharis parasitica, commonly known as yellow mahogany, is a species of tree in the family Meliaceae; it grows primarily in tropical rainforests and is native to Taiwan, parts of Malesia, Papuasia, and northeast Queensland.
Didymocheton gaudichaudianus, commonly known as ivory mahogany, is a species of rainforest tree in the family Meliaceae, native to Malesia, Papuasia, Queensland, and some southwest Pacific islands.
Didymocheton alliaceus is a species of flowering plant in the mahogany family, Meliaceae. It is a tree native to the tropical Pacific islands, ranging from the Solomon Islands to the Caroline Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Wallis and Futuna, Niue, Tonga, and the Samoan Islands. It is most closely related to Didymocheton mollissimus of Malesia and mainland Southeast Asia, D. mollis of the Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, and Sulawesi, and D. muelleri of northeastern Australia.
Didymocheton mollis is a species of flowering plant in the family Meliaceae. It is a tree native to Sulawesi, the Maluku Islands, New Guinea, and the Bismarck Archipelago.
Dysoxylum acutangulum is a species of flowering plant in the mahogany family, Meliaceae. It is a tree native to Peninsular Thailand, Malesia, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, and the Northern Territory and Queensland in Australia.