Pukatea

Laurelia novaezelandiae, "Pukatea" (Atherospermataceae); also
Griselinia lucida, "Puka, akapuka, akakōpuka" (Griseliniaceae);
Griselinia littoralis, "Kāpuka, pāpāuma, māihiihi, paraparauma, tapatapauma, Broadleaf" (Griseliniaceae);
Epilobium cinereum, "Narrow-leaved willow herb " (Onagraceae);
Senecio glomeratus, "Fireweed" (Asteraceae); and
Pseudongaphalium luteoalbum, "Jersey cudweed" (Asteraceae);

Alternative names are listed above in the entries for the various species sharing this name.

ETYMOLOGY:
From PROTO EASTERN OCEANIC *buka, "Large littoral trees, including Pisonia species (Nyctagynaceae), and Gyrocarpus americanus (Hernandiaceae) ", 2
through PROTO CENTRAL PACIFIC *buka, As for Proto Eastern Oceanic, but expanded to include Hernandia nymphaefolia (Hernandiacae).
to PROTO POLYNESIAN *puka, "A general term (taxon) for large littoral trees, notably including Pisonia grandis (Nyctagynaceae), along with Hernandia nymphaefolia and Gyrocarpus americanus (Hernandiaceae)";

COGNATE WORDS IN SOME OTHER POLYNESIAN LANGUAGES
Niuean: Pukatea (Pisonia grandis, Nyctagynaceae)
Tahitian: Pu'atea (Pisonia grandis, P. brunoniana, Nyctagynaceae)
Tuamotuan: Pukatea (Pisonia grandis, Nyctagynaceae)
Manahiki-Rakahanga: Pukatea (Pisonia grandis, Nyctagynaceae)
Penrhyn: Puka tea (Pisonia grandis , Nyctagynaceae)
Pukapuka: Pukatea (Pisonia grandis, Nyctagynaceae)
Rarotongan: Pukatea (Pisonia grandis, Nyctagynaceae)

RELATED MĀORI PLANT NAMES
Puka: A name applied generically to a select number of species having in common a littoral or damp habitat and relatively large leaves, including, among others: Meryta sinclairii "Puka" (Araliaceae), and Griselinia lucida "Puka, Akapuka" (Griseliniaceae).
Kāpuka (Grisilinia littoralis, "Kāpuka", Griseliniaceae);
Pukapuka (Reduplication of Puka -- Brachyglotis repanda, "Rangiora", Asteraceae)
Akapuka (Aka "vine" + Puka) Griselinia lucida, "Puka, akapuka", Griseliniaceae.

Introduction
Pukatea -- the tree
Pukatea -- the herbs
... Epilobium cinereum
... Senecio glomeratus glomeratus
... Pseudongaphalium luteoalbum
Gallery

The pale-trunked, massively butressed Pukatea, Laurelia novaezelandiae, is clearly reminiscent of its tropical namesakes, and the habitat and large leaves of the Griselinias make their sharing this name scarcely surprising. Why the other three plants should be called Pukatea is something of a mystery, but may stem simply from the shape of their fruit or appearance of their inflorescences having reminded whoever named them of their tropical or local namesake.

Pukatea -- the tree

Although there are two small trees which occasionally also are referred to as pukatea -- the kāpuka, Grisilinia littoralis, and the akapuka , Grisilinia lucida, these have separate pages devoted to them, so this section concentrates on Laurelia novaezelandiae, the tree most often referred to in Aotearoa by that name. This tree belongs to the botanical family Atherospermataceae, a small family of about 18 species distributed among six genera. The family is thought to have originated in West Gondwana over 100 million years ago, but to have arrived in Aotearoa and New Caledonia more recently, perhaps 50 million years ago. Laurelia novae-zelandiae is endemic to Aotearoa, and the other species of Laurelia, L. sempervirens, is endemic to Chile.

The pukatea is a tall forest tree growing to 35 m or more high, with a trunk up to 2 m in diameter, with conspicuous plank buttresses at the base. It has thick, leathery dark-green serrated leaves, light-coloured below, on four-sided branchlets (the branchlets are rectangular and cross-section). The leafstalks are about 1 cm long, and the leaves 4 to 8 cm x 2.5 to 5 cm. The flowers are small and greenish-yellow, producing a clear nectar which attracts a lot of insects. They may be complete (bi-sexual) or separately male and female, often on the same tree. They produce glossy green urn-shaped seed cases about an inch long (illustrated on the left), each of which contains hairy fruits containing a single seed to be dispersed by the wind.

This tree grows from sea level to about 600 m, and is a characteristic tree of swampy forests, damp gullies and creek beds in areas either frost-free or subject to minimum temperatures above minus 4 degrees centigrade in the North Island, and the north and west of the South Island. It has pale brown wood with a yellowish tinge, sometimes with dark streaks, tough and strong – but not favoured traditionally for large canoe construction as it is prone to waterlogging. However, the buttresses were used as the timber of choice for carved figureheads on these vessels.

The trunks were used for river canoes because their timber was light and buoyant, despite the disadvantage of its being likely to become waterlogged. The timber does not split easily, and despite the water-logging tendency it was used by 19th-century Europeans and later for boatbuilding and wharf piles, as it is highly resistant to to toredo worm. It was also used for the wooden parts of motor vehicles.

The trunk is typical of tropical rain-forest trees. In swampy areas, it also develops pneumatophores, breathing roots that supply air to the submerged root system. Those of the pukatea are particularly interesting because they grow vertically and then loop back down into the swamp. The roots often extend across a stream to the opposite bank. The pukatea is often associated with kahikatea in these environments. In exposed situations, it may have a rather short trunk, like the specimen illustrated on the right, rather reminiscent of the tropical pukatea in similar situations.

In whakatauākī the pukatea's propensity for becoming waterlogged when felled has made it a symbol of conservatism, lack of mobility, or cowardice. For example:

Ka haere te tōtara haemata, ka takoto te pukatea wainui.
The strong-growing tōtara travels, the waterlogged pukatea sinks. {M&G #927]

That is, the young go off to see the world while their elders are kept at home by their responsibilities. And then again:

Te waka puktea - te waka kohekohe.
The pukatea canoe - the kohekohe canoe. [M&G #2488]

Like many poverbs, this one is capable of different interpretations depending on the circumstances it is referring to. Meade and Grove (p. 397) note that both the trees named are softwoods, unsuitable for [durable] canoe construction, and that this expression therefore "is applied to a coward, who like those trees will not stand up to stress. Or it might be used for a venture that is not likely to stand the test of time." This laconic statement could also be applied to contrast an ill-conceived enterprise with a better thought out one. In their Plants of New Zealand, Laing and Blackwell note thisvariation on the theme: "A coward is like the canoe of pukatea, which being made of soft wood soon gets waterlogged and slow of motion. The brave man as like the kohekohe canoe, swift and strong". Kohekohe was highly regarded for making river canoes, but the timber decays rapidly, so that while they were excellent while they lasted, they would have to be replaced relatively frequently. They are thus both a contrast and a parallel to the qualities and usefulness of the pukatea.

The tree has a pale bark, almost white. The inner bark was used to treat skin diseases and ulcers, and also toothache. The leaves also have analgesic properties. Murdoch Riley (Herbal, page 374) notes that old trees are often hollow, and were once used to conceal the bodies of the dead from potential marauders.

The sooty beech scale insect, the producer of honeydew from beech trees (Fuscospora spp.) in the South Island, also feeds on pukatea, but only north of the "Taupo line" in the North Island, and in the northern South Island. This is possibly because of the submergence of much of the New Zealand land mass in the Pliocene era, but George Gibbs (Ghosts of Gondwana, pp. 178-9) points out that this explanation is far from certain. The pukatea does not appear to be a source of honeydew, despite the insect's presence on the tree and its abundant nectar.

Pukatea -- the herbs

The Māori names recorded for these small plants (two of them only in eighteenth and nineteenth century sources) have possibly been derived from their inflorescences, and especially their fruit, which is somewhat similar in form to that of both the tropical Pukatea, Pisonia grandis, and the large forest tree most often referred to by this name in New Zealand.

Epilobium cinereum, a willow-herb endemic to New Zealand, is also naturalised in Hawai'i. It is a member of the evening primrose family, the Onagraceae, and was collected by Solander and Banks during the Endeavour expedition in 1769. They recorded the Maori name as "pukatea". This herb has reddish or grey-green serrated leaves, and rose tinted flowers on the end of a long stalk. In the NZPCN fact sheet, Peter de Lange notes at this plant "is often an urban weed especially in derelict properties, old car yards and in car parks". It is also common on banks and rocky outcrops, along Lake, River and ephemeral wetland margins.

Senecio glomeratus glomeratus is a "fireweed" common on disturbed ground, especially in coastal and low land areas. The species thrives in both dry and marshy soils. It grows to about 2 m tall, with a erect, hairy stems, and toothed leaves often with purple undersides. It has yellow flowers, and a very small narrow red-brown fruit (illustrated, greatly enlarged, on the left) with a pappus (tuft of parachute hairs) attached. This plant was collected by the French navigator Dumont D'Urville in 1824, during his voyage to the Pacific on the ship Coquille. He recorded its Māori name as "pukatea".

Pseudongaphalium luteoalbum, like Senecio glomeratus, is a member of the Asteraceae (daisy family), and also classified as a weed. It is found around the world but since it may have arrived here on its own it is regarded as possibly indigenous. The New Zealand plants maybe a separate species, but this is yet to be determined. It has woolly, whitish leaves with wavy edges, on stems reaching 50 cm or so. Those near the top of the stems are narrow and pointed; the lower ones are also narrow but spoon shaped. On rocky and stony places the leaves will be wider and more spoon shaped on much shorter stems. This plant bears tightly-packed clusters of orange-tinted flowers. It grows on rocky and stony places in coastal areas, and as a weed on cultivated land, lawns and pastures. Unlike the other two species, this plant is included as an entry under the head word "pukatea" in the Williams dictionary.

There is possibly one more "pukatea" not in this collection. The Williams' Dictionary has an entry for "pukatea kōraha" (literally desert or wasteland pukatea, defined only as "a low shrub which grows on the barren gumlands in the North", with no further information. I have not been able to find any other references to this plant elsewhere. Ki te mea e mōhio ana koe, tuhia koa mai!