Pseudopanax crassifolius

Aralia crassifolia Sol. ex A. Cunn.
Annals of Natural History 2: 214. 1839.
Nicholson (1888) gives this as a synonym of Pseudopanax crassifolium

Pseudopanax crassifolius(Sol. ex A.Cunn.) C.Koch


the singular Aralia crassifolia, a kind of ivy, bearing long leaves, of a texture almost resembling whalebone.

Icones Plantarum William Jackson Hooker, Joseph Dalton Hooker
TABS. DLXXXIII, DLXXXIV~

Aralia Crassifolia. Sol.

Arbor, foliis polymorphis coriaceis dentatis obtusis nunc simplicibus cuneato-oblongis nunc lineari-oblongis elongato-attenuatis nunc bi-trifoliatis, floribus racemosis, racemis
simplicibus compositisque umbellatis.

Aralia crassifolia. Sol. in A. Cunn. Bot. of N. Zeal. in Ann.
Nat. Hist.v. 2, p. 214.
Aralia heterophylla. A. Cunn. Mst.

Hab. New Zealand, Northern Island, Sir Jos. Banks. Shaded
woods on the shores of the Bay of Islands, Wangaroa, &c.
R. and A. Cunningham, Mr. Colenso. Waihaké, Dr. Sinclair.
Hokianga, Edgerley. Chatham Island, Dr. Dieffenbach.


A tree. according to Mr. A. Cunningham, from 20 to 30 feet high, with alternate leaves of a thick firm and coriaceous texture, but extremely variable in form. Our flowering specimens have them 6-8 inches long, oblong-cuneate, obtuse, variously sinuato- dentate, tapering into a short thick footstalk. Other leaves are sent with the specimens, taken probably from another part of the plant (indeed they are all of this kind on our young living plants), narrow, and very much elongated, from 10 inches to 2 feet long, brownish purple, blotched with green : other leaves again, which Mr. Cunningham says are from the adult plant, are bi-trifoliolate, with leaflets long and narrow, like the leaves last described. Flowers numerous. Limb of the calyx almost none. Petals ovato-cordate, coriaceous. Stamens 5. Style short. Stigma 5-lobed. Fruit the size of a small pea.

Fig. 1. Flower. /. 2. The same fully expanded. /. 3. Raceme of fruit, nat. size. f. 4. Single fruit. f. 5. The same cut through transversely. /. 6. Seed :—all but f. 3 magnified.

Phyllocladus trichomanoides

Icones Plantarum Or Figures, with Brief Descriptive Characters and Remarks, of New Or Rare Plants, Selected from the Author's Herbarium By William Jackson Hooker, Joseph Dalton

Phyllocladus trichomanoides

A Description of the Genus Pinus, ed. 3 2: 159. 1832.

Tanekaha, Celery Pine

Botany Bay House described in Curtis's Boranical Magazine vol. 71, 1845 the oldest and largest trees were received as a gift from Capt. Sir W. Symonds, Surveyor General of the Navy. Included "peculiar-looking Phyllocladus trichomanoides" from New Zealand.

New Zealand: N Cape (N Island) and northern Marlborough and Nelson districts, extending to nearly lat. 42° on west of the S Island; in lowland forest up to 800 m above sea level. It is a hardy tree that grows equally well in shade or in the open (Allan 1961, Salmon 1996).

Phyllocladus, R. Br., Rich. Conif. p. 129.
326. P.* trichomanoides, frondibus pinnatis, foliolis cuneatis inciso-lobatir, lobis truncatis dentatis. Don. in Lamb. Pin. edit. 2. App. Rich. Conif. p.129. t. 3.—P. rhomboidalis. A. Rick. Fl. Nov. Zel. p. 363. non E. L. Rich., Br. et excl. tyn. LabiU.—Tanekaha of the natives, Rev. W. Yale. " Toa- toa ab incolis vulgo dicitur," D'Urville.

New Zealand (Northern Island), forests on the banks of the river Thames, and in dry woods on hills at the Bay of Islands, Wangaroa, &c.—1826, A. Cunningham.

A tree of straight tapering growth, occasionally attaining the height of sixty feet, seldom, however, exceeding a diameter of three feet. The wood is a shade darker than the Dammara or Kauri; it has a closer grain, smells strongly of turpentine, and being less affected with wet than any other pine, is regarded as an exceedingly valuable wood. " It is used," says the Rev. W. Yate, " for all kinds of outside work, such as posts and floors for verandahs, and is much sought after for the decks of vessels." Its bark is used by the natives for dying a red colour, which they prepare in the following way: " The bark," says Bennett, " is pounded and then placed in a vessel of cold water, into which hot stones are thrown till the water boils, this being the natives' mode of treating water, since, having no knowledge of pottery, they possess no vessel which can be placed on the fire. After the bark has been boiled for some hours, the decoction becomes of a dark red colour; it is then left to cool, when it is strained and ready for use."