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Puka or Pukanui (Meryta sinclairii (Hook.f.) Seem.) is a large-leaved evergreen tree endemic to New Zealand that grows to about 8 m tall, with the distinctly tropical appearance typical of the genus. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2816 × 2112 pixel, file size: 2. ...
The conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species continuing to survive either in the present day or the future. ...
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The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List and Red Data List), created in 1963, is the worlds most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species and can be found here. ...
Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. ...
Divisions Green algae Chlorophyta Charophyta Land plants (embryophytes) Non-vascular plants (bryophytes) Marchantiophyta—liverworts Anthocerotophyta—hornworts Bryophyta—mosses Vascular plants (tracheophytes) †Rhyniophyta—rhyniophytes †Zosterophyllophyta—zosterophylls Lycopodiophyta—clubmosses †Trimerophytophyta—trimerophytes Pteridophyta—ferns and horsetails Seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta—seed ferns Pinophyta—conifers Cycadophyta—cycads Ginkgophyta—ginkgo Gnetophyta—gnetae Magnoliophyta—flowering plants...
It has been suggested that Angiospermae, and Anthophyta be merged into this article or section. ...
Orders See text. ...
Families Apiaceae (carrot family) Araliaceae (ginseng family) Pittosporaceae Griseliniaceae Torriceliaceae The Apiales are an order of flowering plants. ...
Genera Aralia Fatsia Hedera - Ivy Panax - Ginseng Reynoldsia Schefflera and others, see text of article The Araliaceae is known as the Ivy or Ginseng family. ...
Species Meryta angustifolia Meryta balansae Meryta brachypoda Meryta capitata Meryta choristantha Meryta coriacea Meryta denhamii Meryta drakeana Meryta lanceolata Meryta latifolia Meryta lucida Meryta macrophylla Meryta malietoa Meryta mauluulu Meryta mauruensis Meryta neoebudica Meryta oxylaena Meryta pachycarpa Meryta pandanicarpa Meryta pauciflora Meryta raiateensis Meryta salicifolia Meryta schizolaena Meryta senfftiana Meryta...
In biology, binomial nomenclature is the formal method of naming species. ...
Joseph Dalton Hooker Joseph Dalton Hooker Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, GCSI, OM, FRS, MD (June 30, 1817 – December 10, 1911) was an English botanist and traveller. ...
Berthold Carl Seemann (1825–1871) was a German botanist. ...
A Silver Fir shoot showing three successive years of retained leaves In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant which retains its leaves year-round, with each leaf persisting for more than 12 months. ...
The coniferous Coast Redwood, the tallest tree species on earth. ...
The metre (or meter, see spelling differences) is a measure of length. ...
The tropics are the geographic region of the Earth centered on the equator and limited in latitude by the two tropics: the Tropic of Cancer in the north and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere. ...
Puka currently occurs naturally on the Three Kings Islands (c. 34"S, 172W) and the Hen and Chickens Islands (c. 36"S, 175W) where it occurs in greater abundance in the relatively sheltered valleys, where soils are thick and conditions are relatively moist, rather than on the exposed ridge-tops. However, Puka can also grow on cliffs with shallow, stony soils which suggests some tolerance of drought. Three Kings Islands are a small group of 13 islands about 55 kilometres (35 miles) northwest of the top of the North Island of New Zealand, where the South Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea converge. ...
The Hen and Chickens Islands (usually simply known as the Hen and Chickens) lie to the east of the North Auckland Peninsula off the coast of northern New Zealand. ...
Description
The elliptical, thick, leathery leaves may be up to 50 cm long and 20 cm wide with a glossy upper surface. They are the largest entire leaves in the New Zealand flora. The petioles (leaf stalks) may be up to 35 cm long. The tree produces panicles of green-white flowers followed by black berries. The leaves are densely crowded, twenty to thirty together at the tips of the branches, with a few large deciduous scales amongst the petioles of the youngest. A petiole (also called a pedicel) is the first abdominal segment of members of the Apocrita. ...
White-fruited Rowan (Sorbus glabrescens) corymb; note the branched structures holding the fruits. ...
When young, the Puka grows straight up, but once it has flowered it tends to branch, typically forming a rounded crown. Puka's green-white flowers arise on erect terminal panicles up to 50 cm long from spring to autumn. The flowers are inconspicuous and ball-bearing sized fruit form only on the female plants (although occasionally bisexual flowers occur). The fruit is roundish-oblong, black, shining, slightly angled when young, becoming even as it approaches maturity; seeds 5, curved, much compressed, about three-eights of an inch in length, black, or dark-brown, intensely hard. Fruits take a year to mature, and as they begin to ripen to black, birds are attracted to them.
The entire plant is more or less resinous, and the dark-brown bark has numerous warty excrescences and is easily wounded, producing large callosities as it heals. The wood is white and brittle. The branches are very stout, showing the scars of fallen leaves. The trunk is stout or slender, irregularly and sparingly branched.
Discovery Puka first came to European attention when William Colenso found a single tree growing at the head of Whangururu Bay in Northland (on the New Zealand mainland). This tree was protected by a fence, and declared sacred by Māori who told Colenso that they had brought the tree from the Poor Knights Islands. Colenso made frequent visits to Whangaruru Bay over several years in the vain hope of procuring flowers and fruit. Colenso pointed out the tree to Dr Andrew Sinclair, (c. 1796–1861), Colonial Secretary and naturalist, for whom the tree would eventually be named. Colenso and Sinclair sent specimens of the foliage to Kew. Later William Mair found the tree, and he eventually succeeded in procuring specimens of the leaves and fruit, which were forwarded to Dr. Joseph Hooker at Kew. From these specimens the original description of the tree was made under the name Botryodendrum sinclairii. 2007 os smells like puka tree Born in Penzance, Cornwall on Nov 7th 1811 cousin of John William Colenso , initially trained as a printers apprentice eventually becoming a missionary, botantist and in his later years politician in New Zealand. ...
The Northland Region, one of the 16 regions of New Zealand, is, as the name suggests, the northernmost of New Zealands administrative regions. ...
Languages MÄori, English Religions MÄori religion, Christianity Related ethnic groups other Polynesian peoples, Austronesian peoples The word MÄori refers to the indigenous people of New Zealand and their language. ...
The Poor Knights Islands are a group of uninhabited islands off the east coast of the Northland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. ...
Joseph Dalton Hooker Joseph Dalton Hooker Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, GCSI, OM, FRS, MD (June 30, 1817 – December 10, 1911) was an English botanist and traveller. ...
Cultivation
 Leaves of a young Meryta sinclairii Kirk recorded in 1869 that Puka was 'already established under cultivation', and today it is widely grown as a street tree and a garden specimen in northern New Zealand. The main method of propagation is from seed although cuttings may be taken with limited success. Puka grows well in full sun or light shade and is intolerant of frost, especially when young. It can withstand frosts down to -2 °C once established and it has been grown as far south as Dunedin in protected situations. Puka is wind tolerant, and is unaffected by salt spray and highly tolerant of coastal conditions. Puka may be trimmed to contain its size and can be grown in large containers. It also makes an ideal indoor plant when young. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2816 × 2112 pixel, file size: 2. ...
Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2816 × 2112 pixel, file size: 2. ...
A thermometric scale whose name is synonymous with the Celsius scale. ...
Dunedin (ÅŒtepoti in Maori) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the region of Otago. ...
Meryta sinclairii var. 'Moonlight' is a variegated form with very attractive cream and yellow leaves. It is not as vigorous or as easy to grow as the wild form.
See also Species Meryta angustifolia Meryta balansae Meryta brachypoda Meryta capitata Meryta choristantha Meryta coriacea Meryta denhamii Meryta drakeana Meryta lanceolata Meryta latifolia Meryta lucida Meryta macrophylla Meryta malietoa Meryta mauluulu Meryta mauruensis Meryta neoebudica Meryta oxylaena Meryta pachycarpa Meryta pandanicarpa Meryta pauciflora Meryta raiateensis Meryta salicifolia Meryta schizolaena Meryta senfftiana Meryta...
Binomial name Meryta denhamii Seem. ...
References - F. M. Kelliher, M. B. Kirkham, J. E. Hunt, 'Photosynthesis and stomatal conductance of the New Zealand tree, Meryta sinclairii, grown under two watering regimes' New Zealand Journal of Botany, 2000, Vol. 38: 5 15-5 19.
- T. Kirk, 1869. 'An account of the Puka (Meryta Sinclairii, Seem.)' Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 2, 1869. pp. 100-101. URL: RSNZ, accessed 4 January 2007.
- Porter P. Lowry II, 'Notes on the Fijian Endemic Meryta Tenuifolia (Araliaceae)'. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, Vol. 75, No. 1 (1988), pp. 389-391.
- John Salmon, The Native Trees of New Zealand. Wellington: Reed Books, 1999.
- Biography of Andrew Sinclair, from An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock, originally published in 1966. Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 26-Sep-2006. URL:SINCLAIR, Andrew
- World Conservation Monitoring Centre (1998). Meryta sinclairii. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Listed as Vulnerable (VU D2 v2.3)
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