Rātā
Southern Rātā (Metrosideros umbellata)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Myrtales Family: Myrtaceae Genus: Metrosideros
Species
Metrosideros robusta A. Cunn Metrosideros umbellata Cav. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 497 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (1800 × 2171 pixel, file size: 1 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Photo of Metrosideros umbellata at the San Francisco Botanical Garden, taken June 2005 by User:Stan Shebs File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia... 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. ... Magnoliopsida is the botanical name for a class: this name is formed by replacing the termination -aceae in the name Magnoliaceae by the termination -opsida (Art 16 of the ICBN). ... Families See text. ... Genera 130; see list The Myrtaceae or Myrtle family are a family of dicotyledon plants, placed within the order Myrtales. ... Metrosideros is a genus of tree native to the islands of the Pacific Ocean, including the Bonin Islands, Polynesia, and Melanesia. ... Portait of Allan Cunningham Allan Cunningham (13 July 1791 – 27 June 1839) was an English botanist and explorer, primarily known for his travels in New South Wales to collect plants. ...

Northern rātā flowers, Mount Maungatautari

Rātā may refer to any of eleven species of trees and vines endemic to New Zealand belonging to the genus Metrosideros, the best-known species being Metrosideros robusta (Northern rātā), and M. umbellata (Southern rātā). Both of these are huge trees with red flowers produced between November and January. A relatively recent discovery is the extremely rare M. bartlettii (Cape Reinga white rātā), which seems to be closely related to M. robusta apart from its distinctive white flowers. Most of the other species are forest vines.^[1] Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Karuwai the kiwi at August 2005 health check. ... In biology and ecology endemic means exclusively native to a place or biota, in contrast to cosmopolitan or introduced. ... Metrosideros is a genus of tree native to the islands of the Pacific Ocean, including the Bonin Islands, Polynesia, and Melanesia. ...

The Metrosiderous genus is notable in that only four of the New Zealand species are trees, while the remainder are vines. The vine-like nature of the group manifests in all the trees and especially in M. robusta, which begins its life as an epiphyte high in the branches of a mature forest tree; over centuries the the young tree sends descending and girdling roots down and around the trunk of its host, eventually overpowering it and forming a massive, frequently hollow pseudotrunk of coalesced roots. This tree is unique also in the ability of its root system to re-fuse with itself often forming bizarre sculptural forms. Many species of Metrosideros are being severely damaged and even killed by the Common Brushtail Possum which was introduced from Australia. Near Orosí, Costa Rica Epiphytes on a tree near Santa Elena in Costa Rica An example of an epiphyte assemblage of orchids and bromeliads in a garden setting in Hawaii An epiphyte is any plant that grows upon or attached to another living plant. ... Binomial name Trichosurus vulpecula (Kerr, 1792) The Common Brushtail Possum (Trichosurus vulpecula, from the Greek for furry tailed and the Latin for little fox) is the largest possum, and the Australian marsupial most often seen by city-dwellers, since it is one the very few that thrives in cities as...

See also

• Pōhutukawa, M. excelsa

Binomial name Metrosideros excelsa Gaertn. ...

Notes

1. ^ The twelfth New Zealand species of Metrosideros, Pōhutukawa (M. excelsa) is also referred to as 'Rātā' in some Māori dialects

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Metrosideros robusta

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Metrosideros umbellata