#horoeka

[drhoz]

#2226 - Pseudopanax ferox - Toothed Lancewood 

AKA fierce lancewood or horoeka.

And similar to the more common Pseudopanax crassifolius, that I covered for @purrdence's last visit, but with more prominently tooth-edged leaves. The juvenile leaves are narrow, a very dark grey-brown to grey-green colour, stiff and up to 40 cm long, and prominently toothed along the margins. This may have evolved to make them visibly and texturally unpalatable to Moa. After 10 to 15 years they transition to a much more normal-looking tree, now their foliage is out of reach to even the tallest giant flightless birds.

A mature toothed lancewood can be 6 metres tall with a trunk of 25 cm in diameter. The mature trunk has longitudinal grooves which sometimes twist slightly.

Increasingly popular as a small garden tree.

Other species of Pseudapanax are very different, as you'll see over coming weeks.

Craters of the Moon, Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand

[gedditor]

Ancient vegetation

The lancewood or horoeka (left) is a weird one. Its long, saw-like leaves point downward from a sharp central point for the first 30 or so years of its life. Then they turn upward, like these ones, and gradually become shorter and rounder over some years, until the plant comes to look much more ordinary. And as for the cabbage tree (right), it’s really a giant lily.

[gedditor]

Here’s an odd one

Lancewood, or horoeka, starts off looking rather prehistoric, as in the pic on the left. Then after 15-20 years, the juvenile form, for which it is named, gives way gradually to the more typically tree-like form on the right (the one in the foreground is in the process of transition), with shorter, rounder leaves pointing in the usual direction. They also lose their sharp serrations. This is the bit I really like - they were taken for a long time to be two distinct species. It wasn’t until one was observed over a good many years that the truth became apparent.