Tutu is a common name of

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 Co ...

origin for plants in the genus ''

Coriaria ''Coriaria'' is the sole genus in the family Coriariaceae, which was described by Linnaeus in 1753. It includes 14 species of small trees, shrubs and subshrubs, with a widespread but disjunct distribution across warm temperate regions of the worl ...

'' found in

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 coun ...

. Six New Zealand native species are known by the name: *''

Coriaria angustissima ''Coriaria'' is the sole genus in the family Coriariaceae, which was described by Linnaeus in 1753. It includes 14 species of small trees, shrubs and subshrubs, with a widespread but disjunct distribution across warm temperate regions of the worl ...

'' *''

Coriaria arborea ''Coriaria arborea'' is a highly poisonous and common native shrub or small tree of New Zealand. The common name for this and the other New Zealand species of ''Coriaria'' is tutu. ''Coriaria arborea'' is found in scrub and open areas from the ...

'' *'' Coriaria lurida'' *'' Coriaria plumosa'' *'' Coriaria pteridoides'' They are

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from tree ...

s or

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 ...

s; some are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to New Zealand. Most of the plant parts are poisonous, containing the neurotoxin tutin and its derivative hyenanchin. The widespread species ''

'' is most often linked to cases of poisoning.

Honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

containing tutin can be produced by

honey bee A honey bee (also spelled honeybee) is a eusocial flying insect within the genus ''Apis'' of the bee clade, all native to Afro-Eurasia. After bees spread naturally throughout Africa and Eurasia, humans became responsible for the current cosm ...

s feeding on honeydew produced by sap-sucking vine hopper insects (genus ''

Scolypopa ''Scolypopa'' is a genus of planthoppers in the family Ricaniidae. There are about eight described species in ''Scolypopa'', found mainly in Australia and New Zealand. Species These eight species belong to the genus ''Scolypopa'': * ''Scolypopa ...

'') feeding on tutu. The last recorded deaths from eating honey containing tutin were in the 1890s, although sporadic outbreaks of toxic honey poisoning continue to occur. Poisoning symptoms include delirium, vomiting, and coma. In the series 4 episode 3 of "The Brokenwood Mysteries" (2014), "The Scarecrow", the murder victim was killed by honey contaminated with tutin.

References

External links

Tutu
1966 Encyclopedia of New Zealand Coriariaceae Flora of New Zealand {{NewZealand-plant-stub