''Kunzea ericoides'', commonly known as kānuka, kanuka, white tea-tree or burgan, is a tree or shrub in the myrtle

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

, Myrtaceae and is

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 ...

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 has white or pink flowers similar to those of '' Leptospermum'' and from its first formal description in 1832 until 1983 was known as ''Leptospermum ericoides''. The flowers have five petals and up to 25 stamens which are mostly longer than the petals.

Description

''Kunzea ericoides'' is a spreading shrub or tree, sometimes growing to a height of with bark which peels in long strips and young branches which tend to droop. The leaves are variable in shape from linear to narrow elliptic or lance-shaped, long and wide with a petiole up to long. The flowers are white or pale pink, crowded on side branches or in the axils of upper leaves. The floral cup is covered with soft, downy hairs and is on a

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

long. There are five triangular

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coine ...

s about long and five petals about long. There are up to 25 stamens which are , mostly longer than the petals. Flowering occurs between October and February and is followed by fruit which is a cup-shaped capsule long and wide. The capsule usually opens to release its seed when mature. ''Kunzea ericoides'' is very similar to the Australian endemics '' K. leptospermoides'' and '' K. peduncularis'' which were formerly included in ''K. ericoides''. The new status of ''K. ericoides'' follows the publication of a paper entitled "A revision of the New Zealand ''Kunzea ericoides'' (Myrtaceae) complex" by the New Zealand botanist, Peter James de Lange.

Taxonomy and naming

Kānuka was first formally described in 1832 by the French botanist Achille Richard who gave it the name ''Leptospermum ericoides'' from a specimen he collected in New Zealand. The description was published in ''Voyage de découvertes de l'Astrolabe - Botanique''. In 1983,

Joy Thompson Joy Thompson (born Joy Gardiner-Garden, 1923, died 2018) was an Australian botanist. Her main research areas were taxonomy and Myrtaceae. Life & Career Thompson's university studies occurred during the second world war and in university vacatio ...

changed the name to ''Kunzea ericoides'', describing the differences between ''Leptospermum'' and ''Kunzea'' in '' Telopea''. The specific epithet (''ericoides'') refers to the similarity of the habit of this species to that of ''

Erica arborea ''Erica arborea'', the tree heath or tree heather, is a species of flowering plant (angiosperms) in the heather family Ericaceae, native to the Mediterranean Basin and Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania in East Africa. It is also cultivated as an o ...

''. The suffix ''-oides'' is a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

ending meaning "likeness". The taxonomic revision of the ''Kunzea ericoides'' complex identified ten species endemic to New Zealand, seven of which were new at this time. A more recent analysis of the ''Kunzea'' complex observed little genetic variation and morphological distinction between the species, questioning the evidence for ten endemic ''Kunzea'' species and suggesting further revision. ''Kānuka'' can also refer to '' Kunzea robusta'', it is a doublet of '' mānuka'' from Proto-Polynesian ''nukanuka'' or ''nuka'' which originally refers to ''Decaspermum fructicosum'' due to its similar small white flowers.

Distribution and ecology

Kānuka (or mānuka, as it was mostly known until the 1930s) is only known from the north of the South Island. It is found north of the Buller and

Wairau River The Wairau River is one of the longest rivers in New Zealand's South Island. It flows for from the Spenser Mountains (a northern range of the Southern Alps), firstly in a northwards direction and then northeast down a long, straight valley in ...

s, and is most common near

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. It mostly grows in shrubland and forest in coastal and lowland areas, rarely in subalpine shrubland. Members of the kānuka complex are found throughout New Zealand occurring on the

Three Kings Islands 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 190 ...

, ''Aotea'' (

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), from ''Te Paki'' (on the

Aupouri Peninsula The Aupouri Peninsula is a tombolo at the northern tip of the North Island of New Zealand. It projects between the Tasman Sea to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east. It constitutes the northern part of the Far North District, incorpora ...

) at the northern tip of the North Island to as far south as

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and Central Otago in the South Island, and Stewart Island. Within this range kānuka is widespread ranging from coastal scrub and sand dunes (where it may form a distinct forest type) through lowland and

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial ...

, with one member of the complex reaching elevations of 2000 metres above sea level. Kānuka often colonizes land recovering after a fire and is a critical part of the natural recovery of agricultural areas and open disturbed ground to forest. With its small but abundant flowers it can colour a whole hillside white, almost giving the appearance of snow cover.The wood is very hard and although not durable in the ground it is used for wharf piles and tool handles. It is particularly popular as firewood, and burns with a great heat. Kānuka can grow to around 10 metres high.

Kākāriki The three species of kākāriki (also spelled ''kakariki'', without the macrons), or New Zealand parakeets, are the most common species of parakeets in the genus ''Cyanoramphus'', family Psittacidae. The birds' Māori name, which is the most comm ...

parakeet A parakeet is any one of many small to medium-sized species of parrot, in multiple genera, that generally has long tail feathers. Etymology and naming The name ''parakeet'' is derived from the French wor''perroquet'' which is reflected in ...

s (''Cyanoramphus'') use the leaves and bark of kānuka and the related mānuka tea trees to rid themselves of parasites. Apart from ingesting the material, they also chew it, mix it with

preen gland The uropygial gland, informally known as the preen gland or the oil gland, is a bilobed sebaceous gland possessed by the majority of birds used to distribute the gland's oil through the plumage by means of preening. It is located dorsally at the ...

oil and apply it to their feathers. Mānuka and kānuka are superficially similar species and are often confused with one another. The easiest way to tell the difference between them is to feel the foliage, kānuka leaves being soft, while mānuka leaves are prickly.John Dawson and Rob Lucas. 2000 ''K. ericoides'' may occur in the understory of certain

rimu ''Dacrydium cupressinum'', commonly known as rimu, is a large evergreen coniferous tree endemic to the forests of New Zealand. It is a member of the southern conifer group, the podocarps. The Māori name ''rimu'' comes from the Polynesian ...

nothofagus ''Nothofagus'', also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 43 species of trees and shrubs native to the Southern Hemisphere in southern South America (Chile, Argentina) and Australasia (east and southeast Australia, New Zealand, New Gui ...

forests in the South Island. Typical associate

understory In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the forest canopy without penetrating it to any great extent, but abo ...

species may include crown fern (''Lomaria discolor'') and '' Cyathodes fasciculata''.

Prostrate kānuka

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of kānuka, the prostrate kānuka (''Kunzea ericoides'' var. ''microflora''), is one of the few plants that can survive hot ground in the immediate surroundings of geothermal features such as

fumarole A fumarole (or fumerole) is a vent in the surface of the Earth or other rocky planet from which hot volcanic gases and vapors are emitted, without any accompanying liquids or solids. Fumaroles are characteristic of the late stages of volcani ...

s and craters, for instance at " Craters of the Moon" (Karapiti), a geothermal area close to Taupo, New Zealand.

References

* John Dawson and Rob Lucas. 2000. ''Nature guide to the New Zealand forest'', Godwit Publishing

External links