Towai, Tawhero

The Towai is a handsome New Zealand native tree, found in the North Island from Te Paki to the northern Manukau Harbour and the Kauaerang...Read Morea Valley in Thames. It grows to about 15m tall with a trunk of up to a metre in diameter. It can begin life on a tree-fern trunk. The twigs, parts of the inflorescence and other parts are quite hairy. The juvenile leaves are strikingly different from the adult, 10 cm long with up to 9 pairs of leaflets. The midrift and veins tend to be red on the under side, and the rest of the underside of the leaflet is usually flushed pink. The adult bluntly-toothed leaves which are quite thick and leathery, usually have 3 leaflets but are sometimes simple. Flowering is during spring to early summer, and the fruits are mature in summer and autumn. Towai wood is a light brownish-red with an even and compact grain which has been used for ornamental work, while the bark was highly favoured during the 19th century for use in tanneries as it contained 10-13 per cent tannin.