''Alectryon excelsus'', commonly known as tītoki, is a shiny-leaved

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

native to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. It is in the family

Sapindaceae The Sapindaceae are a family of flowering plants in the order Sapindales known as the soapberry family. It contains 138 genera and 1858 accepted species. Examples include horse chestnut, maples, ackee and lychee. The Sapindaceae occur in tempera ...

. It lives in coastal and lowland

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

s throughout most of the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

and from

Banks Peninsula Banks Peninsula is a peninsula of volcanic origin on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It has an area of approximately and encompasses two large harbours and many smaller bays and coves. The South Island's largest cit ...

to central

Westland Westland or Westlands may refer to: Places *Westlands, an affluent neighbourhood in the city of Nairobi, Kenya * Westlands, Staffordshire, a suburban area and ward in Newcastle-under-Lyme *Westland, a peninsula of the Shetland Mainland near Vaila ...

in the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

Pākehā Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non-Māori New Ze ...

initially called it New Zealand oak, but as with many New Zealand native trees, the

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

name is now more common.

Description

''Alectryon excelsus'' is a sub-canopy tree growing to in height. It has a twisting trunk with smooth dark bark, spreading branches and

pinnate Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, and in ...

leaves. Adult leaflets do not have marginal teeth or usually have very few, blunt and shallow marginal teeth and usually leaflet margins are downturned, whereas, in juvenile leaflets have leaflets with strong teeth and flat along the edges. The length of this tree leaf are around 10–30 cm. This tree has pale grey to almost black skin with a smooth skin texture and has a stem diameter that reaches 50 cm or more. ''Alectryon excelsus'' produces small purple

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s in spring and the

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

s take up to a year to mature. The female flower has a small anther (‘without pollen’) and a short stemmed sari, whereas, the male flower has a long dangling stamen around the vestigial ovary. The colourful

is initially contained in a hairy woody capsule which splits revealing bright red and black unpalatable

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

(the black portion being the seed).

Distribution and habitat

''Alectryon excelsus'' is native to New Zealand but can be found in other places around the world. The tree has been located along street verges in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. ''A. excelsus'' can be found from the North Island to the Westland area of the South Island. The farthest west would be to about

Bruce Bay Bruce Bay is a bay and settlement in South Westland, New Zealand on the Tasman Sea. It is located on State Highway 6, northeast of Haast and southwest of Fox Glacier. The small settlement of Bruce Bay is located just south of the mouth of Mahit ...

. It is commonly seen in lowland forests from sea level to 600 metres as well as in coastal forests of the North Island. This tree has been seen all over the South Island. ''A. excelsus'' is likely to grow anywhere from lowland forest areas and exposed coastal area sites along with sandy plains. In sandy plains, ''Alectryon excelsus'' is often paired with ''

Beilschmiedia tawa ''Beilschmiedia tawa'', the tawa, is a New Zealand broadleaf tree common in the central parts of the country. Tawa is often the dominant canopy tree species in lowland forests in the North Island and the north east of the South Island, but wi ...

'' (tawa). This tree likes to grow in the places that have a lot of water such as

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

s. Tītoki tree gravitates towards moist soil which contains many nutrients for growth along with fertile alluvial and sandy soils. The location characteristics best suited for this tree are: ‘fertile, well-drained soils along riverbanks and associated terraces'. The plant can grow in conditions from semi-shade to full sun.

Life cycle/phenology

The ovary develops into a hairy and dense capsule with rusty, brown hair. In about one year, the capsule will mature and divide the red flesh tissue that surrounds one large seed. From this cleavage, it will show one large seed which is hidden for one year in the capsule and then, the

s will fall to the ground and will grow into trees if they fall in the right place to support the growth of the tree or the

s will be spread by

birds such as the

tūī The tūī (''Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae'') is a boisterous medium-sized bird native to New Zealand. It is blue, green, and bronze colored with a distinctive white throat tuft. It is an endemic passerine bird of New Zealand, and the only spe ...

kererū The kererū (''Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae'') or New Zealand 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 in length and in weight, with a white br ...

kōkako Kōkako (''Callaeas'') are two species of endangered forest birds which are endemic to New Zealand, the North Island kōkako (''Callaeas wilsoni'') and the presumably extinct South Island kōkako (''Callaeas cinereus''). They are both slate-gre ...

and black birds. This tree will flower from spring to early summer. Some flowers of this tree are bisexual because female flowers and male flowers are not borne on the same tree.

Predators, Parasites and Diseases

Predators The fruit of this tree is usually eaten by possums and birds. Some insects such as the unique 5-mm beetle and a small bronze beetle enjoy chewing the bark and the leaves. In addition, the leaves on a small tītoki tree will be targeted by

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...

. Parasites The parasite known as the

tītoki fruit borer ''Alectryon excelsus'', commonly known as tītoki, 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 centr ...

destroys the seeds of this tree by living inside the capsule and eating the seeds.

Uses

The tītoki tree is one of the native trees in New Zealand that was traditionally planted by

. Usually, the pulp fruit from this tree is consumed by Māori while the wood is commonly used for making trainers and wheels because the

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...

is very elastic and strong. Furthermore,

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...

s from this tree are used and processed into hair oil and the leaves of this tree will be soaked in the oil to provide a fragrant aroma. The production of oil is very traditional by crushing the seeds of the tītoki tree using a tourniquet-style hemp bag after that Māori will extract it into greenish oil. People now use the fruit for liquor production. The fruit attributes sweet and astringent taste factors to the alcohol. This product has been distilled and exported to Australia, Fiji, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

References

* Metcalf, Laurie, 2002. ''A Photographic Guide to Trees of New Zealand''. Auckland: New Holland. * Salmon, J.T., 1986. ''The Native Trees of New Zealand''. Wellington: Heinemann Reed.

External links

New Zealand Plant Conservation Network: ''Alectryon excelsus excelsus''
Accessed 4 October 2010
New Zealand Plant Conservation Network: ''Alectryon excelsus grandis''
Accessed 4 October 2010 * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1955888 excelsus Trees of New Zealand