Beilschmiedia Species, Tawa Tree

The Tawa - a fast growing tree - is another New Zealand native tree which doninates the the main bush canopy growing up to 35m and up to ...Read More1.2m in diameter. The bark is dark brown and smooth. The shiny leaves are often yellow to brown-green when young, with a whitish bloom on the underside. In spring and summer the flowers are greenish-yellow, and only a few flowers open at a time, and each inflorescence can last for several months, bearing a mixture of buds and flowers. Small native thrips visit the flowers and probably bring about pollination. The fleshy pendulous summer to autumn fruits - each containing a single large seed - ripen through red and purple to shiny black, and are eaten and dispersed by Kereru (New Zealand Pigeon) and Kaka. Tawa wood is white, very straight grained and easily split. In colonial times it was believed to have had little value before it was discovered to be useful for making butter kegs and boxes, but eventually overcutting brought an end to such uses. Once cut for wood pulp, today Tawa timber is used for flooring boards, for parquet flooring blocks and for plywood. Early Maori made long bird spears from the straight grained Tawa. A decoction from the bark was used to cleanse wounds, and another decoction was used to relieve stomach aches and colds. It mainly grows in the lowland belts up to 760 feet.