#horoeka

[drhoz]

#2226 - Pseudopanax ferox - Toothed Lancewood 

AKA fierce lancewood or horoeka.

And similar to the more common Pseudopanax crassifolius, that I covered for @purrdence's last visit, but with more prominently tooth-edged leaves. The juvenile leaves are narrow, a very dark grey-brown to grey-green colour, stiff and up to 40 cm long, and prominently toothed along the margins. This may have evolved to make them visibly and texturally unpalatable to Moa. After 10 to 15 years they transition to a much more normal-looking tree, now their foliage is out of reach to even the tallest giant flightless birds.

A mature toothed lancewood can be 6 metres tall with a trunk of 25 cm in diameter. The mature trunk has longitudinal grooves which sometimes twist slightly.

Increasingly popular as a small garden tree.

Other species of Pseudapanax are very different, as you'll see over coming weeks.

Craters of the Moon, Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand

[life-around-me-yura15cbx]

Pseudopanax crassifolius × lessonii

Two of the species – Pseudopanax crassifolius, horoeka, lancewood, and Pseudopanax lessonii, houpara, coastal five-finger – hybridise wherever they occur together, be this in the wild or in cultivation.

Pannill Place, Oteha, Auckland 0632

7PGC+R25 Auckland

-36.7229780, 174.7201110

[hamishpetersen]

Garden for JC

A garden I designed and planted for a friend using entirely Aotearoa native perennials on one side of the steps, and mediterranean groundcover herbs on the other. Includes:

Veronica vernicosa / odora / buxifolia (Koromiko) Small grasses i.e. Carex comans / buchanii / flagellifera Libertia ixiodes / grandiflora (Mikoikoi) Acanea Purpurea / caesiiglauca (Piripiri) Leptinella 'Platts Black' Ophiopogon planiscapus Pittosporum / Lemonwood (Tarata) Pseudopanax crassofoliu / lancewood (Horoeka)

creeping Thymus and Rosemarinus species Salvia officinalus Origanum vulgare etc etc.

[yellowgnomeboots]

My favourite tree! The adult trees also look just a bit odd. They're so great. The trunks are awesome and I would love one as a walking stick or staff.

NZ has a large number of trees that have different juvenile and adult forms, normally a trait of tropical plants.

PS it's a lancewood not a lacewood. One Māori name is horoeka.

A juvenile lacewood (Pseudopanax crassifolius) in Nelson Lakes National Parks South Island NZ. It can stay like this for up to 20 years, then branches out and shortens its leaves, meanwhile loses the teeth on leaf margin as well. There are theories to explain this, one of them is to avoid to be eaten by moa, the prehistoric giant bird in NZ. 

[gedditor]

Ancient vegetation

The lancewood or horoeka (left) is a weird one. Its long, saw-like leaves point downward from a sharp central point for the first 30 or so years of its life. Then they turn upward, like these ones, and gradually become shorter and rounder over some years, until the plant comes to look much more ordinary. And as for the cabbage tree (right), it��s really a giant lily.

[martyf1y]

The Social Garden

Back in July I was given the opportunity to redevelop the moon project for the Unison Light Trail in Taupo, New Zealand. As the work was to be displayed by the native gardens of Taupo, we themed the work to contribute in a similar but interactive fashion. We wanted to allow the public to engage with the gardens without causing harm. It was also an attempt to connect different voices in the community and hear what the locals think.

The work consisted of a projector sending a 5 meter wide image onto the side of the local museum. It starts out as an empty grass field with a twilight starry sky and red-yellow fireflies floating about. A person can send a message about the festival to the garden by making a tweet with the hashtag #taupowinterfestival. In this message they nominate a tree to plant and grow by adding one of the following names:

KOWHAI MANUKA HARAKEKE TAWHAI KOHUHU KAIKAWAKA HOROEKA  

Some examples of the messages sent are:

“#taupowinterfestival TAWHAI First family outing at the Festival - 11 days old and loving it!“

“#taupowinterfestival KOWHAI This is a Kowhai tree and it might fall down because Pumpkin is so fat“

Once the installation receives the tweet an animation sequence takes place. First a random firefly fly towards the tree seed destination where it explodes into a colourful spore cloud. In its place a small native tree begins to grow over 5 - 10 minutes. The spore cloud is blown up into the air where it transitions into the twitter message for everyone to read. The new tree eventually makes its way to the background where it joins all the other user created trees.

With the project being displayed in a small town, twitter was not a widely used medium. To make sure people were still able to engage with the work, we kept a tablet nearby for message to be sent through.

The installation was exhibited over 9 days, allowing for the digital garden to flourish and expand each night. By the end we had over 200 tress and plants in our garden. The work was constructed using Openframeworks in XCode and an twitter API addon. For more info on the code or technical information please send me a private message. 

[violetsandshrikes]

OP literally says trees are better than human beings but go off ig 🙄

MAYBE SO, but have you SEEN horoeka/lance woods??

[haiimrowie]

Generally native species have native names, so in Aotearoa we have plants like harakeke, horoeka, makomako, akeake, pohutukawa

I love the push in recent years to switch to the Te Reo Māori names for them, perhaps the same might also work in other places?

Maybe people would be more willing to plant native species if they didn't have such terrible names

[thegrandimago]

This is the 5th installment of Since I've Been Gone. Taken on the same day as the previous photos, this takes at the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park part of the @bushandbeachnz tour. The first video shows the inside on a long since dead kauri (Agathis australis). The second is my tour guide showing us a massive vine known as a Northern rātā (Metrosideros robusta). He's explaining that these vines can be mistaken for trees, such as this one which wrapped itself around a tree and once the tree died and rotted away, the rātā still maintained the shape it had when the tree was still there. I also hear they can live for a millennium. The third video is our guide talking about nīkau (Rhopalostylis sapida), NZ's only native palm. Here, he is talking about the small nuts produced from the palm's tendrils and are the main food source for the NZ wood pigeon (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae), or kererū. I sadly stopped recording before he could go on about the birds getting drunk off fermented nuts. The fourth video is my guide showing us supplejack (Ripogonum scandens) that he referred to as 'bush asparagus', also he forgot the Maori names for it are kareao or pirita. Anyways, it's a climbing liana that blooms during December-February and produces red berries that are an important food source for NZ fauna. As my guide explains, the vine is edible and tastes like asparagus, as the name implies. The fifth video is just me showing off the kareao's shoot. The sixth video is my guide talking about this live kauri (Agathis australis) as it's producing the 'gum' responsible for the copals. And yes he also talks about kauri die-back, the reason NZ has shoe cleaning stations on trails. The seventh video features a lancewood (Pseudopanax crassifolius), or horoeka, albeit a young specimen. My guide is explaining that it's thought the spiky leaves were meant for deterring moa until it can grow to adult size, making it an evolutionary anachronism. Also, they apparently made for good bootlaces if you weren't picky enough. The last picture is just some mother spleenwort (Asplenium bulbiferum), or pikopiko. It's just some of New Zealand's many endemic ferns and apparently the fronds are edible. (at Waitakere Ranges Regional Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/CSsGVmCrGeI/?utm_medium=tumblr

[wondering-earth]

I went into a native bush today here in Omanawa and this was the first image I saw as I walked in. It was like the first call welcoming me on to the marae. He karanga. A peace offering. I've been into many native forests here in Aotearoa and I lived in one for four years. All have felt different. Walking into this forest made me feel hopeful. I saw our beautiful rewarewa in abundance, kõtukutuku our native fushcia, tawa and horoeka so tall, kareao and kiekie. I felt alive. https://www.instagram.com/p/B2_HcxzJ5aN/?igshid=1tuk7a5vew4y3

[rachael-li-mct]

Transmedia - Other Species to Introduce

Birds

Bellbird Bellbirds have a very important role in the New Zealand ecosystem as they assist with the regeneration of the forest by dispersing seeds from the fruits they eat and also pollinating plants from feeding on flowers. 

Silvereye They are not truly native as they are found in Australia as well. They are found throughout New Zealand and its offshore and outlying islands, occurring in most vegetated habitats, including suburban gardens, farmland, orchards, woodlands and forests. Easily identified with the white ring surrounding their eye with green and cream plumage. Can sometimes feed on aphids. They may spread weed seeds through ingestion of small fruits and they are known to spread seeds of native trees and shrubs, including kahikatea and coprosmas. Silvereyes assist with pollination of some tree species such as kowhai and fuchsia when feeding on nectar.

Dotterel Endemic found on east coast beaches in the northern North Island, but is sparsely distributed around much of the rest of the country.

Insects

Puriri Moth Characterised by their large size and bright green(male) and yellow(female) colour. Puriri moths are found in forests and bush throughout the North Island

NZ Glowworm Endemic fungus gnat that produces a blue green bioluminescence at its larval stage. Usually habitate caves and sheltered banks with high humidity. Uses sticky threads to catch prey.

Plants

Flax, Harakeke One of our most ancient plant species, actually a lily. Provides food, nectar and shelter for native organisms. Found throughout New Zealand, have many uses for humans as well, was once one of our biggest exports. 

Manuka Although Manuka trees are also found in Australia, they are much more common in New Zealand and some species are native (Kanuka). Chemical tests have shown that mānuka/kahikātoa pollen, and honey derived from it, contains powerful insecticides and anti-bacterial agents that can help fight intestinal worms and bacterial infections.

Kowhai Most species are common throughout the country. Tui and bellbird and New Zealand wood pigeon/kererū/kūkū/kūkupa feast on leaves and flowers – kōwhai are an important seasonal nectar food source for them.

Nikau Palm The Nikau is the only palm species native to mainland New Zealand and it is the world's most southerly growing palm. Kererus really like the ripe fruits from the nikau palms.

Lancewood, Horoeka Common throughout shrubs and lowland in the NZ. Has very different juvenile and adult forms, heteroblasty.

Kowharawhara The species generally grow in forests, swamps and amongst low alpine vegetation. Has sweetly scented flowers and fruit which provide nourishment for birds and insects. http://www.terrain.net.nz/friends-of-te-henui-group/new-plant-page/astelia-solandri-kowharawhara.html

Notes: It is important to only use locally sourced plants as some plant species are very variable so it would suit local terrain.

References

Auckland Council. (2013, August 27). Indigenous terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems of Auckland. Retrieved from https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/plans-projects-policies-reports-bylaws/our-plans-strategies/unitary-plan/history-unitary-plan/documentssection32reportproposedaup/appendix-3-11-4.pdf

New Zealand Birds Online. (2013). New Zealand dotterel. Retrieved from http://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/new-zealand-dotterel

Martin NA. 2010, revised 2018. Puriri moth - Aenetus virescens. Interesting Insects and other Invertebrates. New Zealand Arthropod Factsheet Series Number 13. http://nzacfactsheets.landcareresearch.co.nz/Index.html. Date Accessed. ISSN 1179-643X.

Wikipedia. (2019, April 2). Arachnocampa luminosa. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arachnocampa_luminosa

Department of Conservation. (n.d.). Harakeke/flax. Retrieved from https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native-plants/harakeke-flax/

Department of Conservation. (n.d.). Kowhai. Retrieved from https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native-plants/kowhai/

Department of Conservation. (n.d.). Lancewood/horoeka. Retrieved from https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native-plants/lancewood-horoeka/

Department of Conservation. (n.d.). M'nuka/kahik'toa and k'nuka. Retrieved from https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native-plants/manuka-kahikatoa-and-kanuka/

T.E.R:R.A.I.N. (n.d.). Rhopalostylis sapida (Nikau Palm). Retrieved from http://www.terrain.net.nz/friends-of-te-henui-group/trees-native-botanical-names-r-to-z/nikau-palm.html

T.E.R:R.A.I.N. (n.d.). Astelia solandri (Kowharawhara). Retrieved from http://www.terrain.net.nz/friends-of-te-henui-group/new-plant-page/astelia-solandri-kowharawhara.html

[drhoz]

#1980 - Pseudopanax crassifolius  - Lancewood

Photo by @purrdence​, at Rotorua in NZ

AKA horoeka. The binomial means ‘thick-leaved false ginseng’, and the common name presumably refers to one traditional use for the long straight juvenile trunk.

A New Zealand native tree in the family Araliaceae, where it grows from the coast up to about 750m with a few relatives around the islands.

Most noteworthy for the drastic change in form from juvenile to mature tree - this one is a juvenile. When these plants were first described, the juvenile form and the adult form were thought to be different species. The leaves are brown, serrated, up to a meter long, and look pretty much dead. 20 years later the trunk begins to branch, producing a bushy top, and the leaves become wider and shorter losing their teeth, and more closely resembles a normal tree, up to 25m tall. 

One theory is that the young plant had to protect itself against browsing by the giant flightless Moa birds, wiped out by the first humans to settle New Zealand. Once above Moa height, it was out of danger and turns into a "regular" tree. The closely related Chatham Island species does not display these changes, but the Chathams didn’t have Moa.

Grown as an unusual ornamental in cooler parts of the world, although you might get questions about why you haven’t removed a dead plant. Their best known relative is English Ivy, and the flowers are very similar. In fact, lancewoods frequently grow as epiphytes themselves.

Pseudopanax ferox, the toothed lancewood is similar to P. crassifolius except the leaves are more abundant and severely toothed like a bandsaw blade.

[rabbitsandpenguins]

I visited the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hobart today and had a ball waltzing around looking at many of the different species there. This guy impressed me not so much with his foliage, but with his name. What a kick-ass name for a tree! 

[thecoffeeimp]

Juvenile lancewood trees

Apparently there are three species of this bizarre tree, and the rarest species is "fierce". These didn't appear to be fierce trees.

[gedditor]

Here’s an odd one

Lancewood, or horoeka, starts off looking rather prehistoric, as in the pic on the left. Then after 15-20 years, the juvenile form, for which it is named, gives way gradually to the more typically tree-like form on the right (the one in the foreground is in the process of transition), with shorter, rounder leaves pointing in the usual direction. They also lose their sharp serrations. This is the bit I really like - they were taken for a long time to be two distinct species. It wasn’t until one was observed over a good many years that the truth became apparent.

[violetsandshrikes]

i'm writing Hell Papers and envy your lazy day immensely. here are my questions: 1) what is/are your favorite flower(s)? or favorite plants in general? 2) do you have an area of ecology(?) or conservation that you are particularly invested in? 3) not exactly a question but please tell me about native New Zealand plants :O

THIS IS SO LATE I’M SORRY LOVELY AHHHHHHH

1) My favourite flowers are definitely lilacs or violets, however I do have a special place in my heart for batflowers! In terms of plants overall, I really like philodendrons or sundews as house plants, and symbiotic ferns.

2) My main interests are endocrinology with a conservation focus, so basically hormones in wildlife and how that corresponds with what’s changing in the world around them! I’m also very invested in looking at human-wildlife conflict, and holistic approaches to reducing these as much as possible. As a side hobby, I’m actually really into parasites and parasitology, and I once sequenced a bunch of new lice found on albatross species in the Sub-Antarctic region.

3) New Zealand has some amazing flora! We’ve got amazing beech forest, wetlands, sub-alpine and alpine zones, mixed broad-leaved forests, and some very cool native trees.

In terms of some of my favourite plants of Aotearoa, here’s a list: Kākābeak/Ngutu kākā, Kōwhai, Lancewood/Horoeka, Hound’s Tongue/Kowaowao and Wire-netting Bush/Korokio.