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.
Cordyline australis, commonly known as the cabbage tree, or by its Māori name of tī or tī kōuka, is a widely branched monocot tree endemic to New Zealand.
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.
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 flowering plant genus of trees and shrubs from the mahogany family, Meliaceae.
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.
Pterophylla racemosa, known as the kāmahi, is an evergreen tree native to New Zealand. It is part of the Pterophylla genus which mostly includes sub-tropical species, but the kāmahi is found in a variety of New Zealand climates from coastal areas to high-elevation inland areas.
Metrosideros robusta, the northern rātā, is a forest tree endemic to New Zealand. It grows up to 25 metres (82 ft) or taller, and usually begins its life as a hemiepiphyte high in the branches of a mature forest tree; over centuries the young tree sends descending and girdling roots down and around the trunk of its host, eventually forming a massive, frequently hollow pseudotrunk composed of fused roots. In disturbed ground, or where there are gaps in the forest cover, northern rātā will grow on the ground with a normal but short trunk.
Dysoxylum fraserianum, 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.
Elaeocarpus dentatus, commonly known as hinau, is a native lowland forest tree of New Zealand. Other names in Māori for the tree are hangehange, pōkākā, and whīnau.
Dysoxylum mollissimum subsp. molle, 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, as far southwards as north-eastern New South Wales. Also occurs in Malesia and the south-western Pacific Islands. In Australia it is distributed from the Bellinger River in New South Wales in the south, to the wet tropics of north-eastern Queensland. The specific epithet mollissimum is from the Latin, meaning "very soft", describing the soft hairy leaflets. A signposted red bean tree may be seen near the car park of Victoria Park Nature Reserve in north-eastern New South Wales.
Dysoxylum pettigrewianum, 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.
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.
Prasoxylon alliaceum is a tree in the family Meliaceae. The specific epithet alliaceum is from the Latin meaning "onion-like", referring to the smell of the inner bark.
Dysoxylum 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.
Dysoxylum parasiticum, commonly known as yellow mahogany, is a species of rainforest tree in the family Meliaceae native to Taiwan, parts of Malesia, Papuasia, and northeast Queensland.
Dysoxylum gaudichaudianum, commonly known as ivory mahogany, is a species of rainforest tree in the family Meliaceae, native to Malesia, Queensland, and some southwest Pacific islands.