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A: Melaleuca, a genus of around 170 species in the Myrtle
family (Myrtaceae). The majority of species are endemic to Australia but several occur to the north (e.g. Indonesia,
New Guinea, New Caledonia, Malaysia).
Today, tea tree oil, which has antiseptic, antibacterial, and anti fungal properties, is commercially extracted
from the leaves of Melaleuca alternifolia. Cajeput oil, which is used in medicine, is extracted from the
leaves of Melaleuca leucadendra and M. cajuputi. Essential oils are extracted from Melaleuca linearifolia.
Melaleuca are commonly known as "Paperbarks" in the tree forms and "Honey Myrtles" in the smaller
forms. These names refer to the flaky bark of many species and the nectar produced in the flowers. The term "Tea
Tree" is also applied occasionally by this is more commonly used with the related genus Leptospermum.
Melaleuca is closely related to Callistemon ("Bottlebrushes") and differs from that genus in the way
that the stamens are connected to the floral tube
Paperbark maintains a more constant temperature for the bulk of the tree trunk. The bark provides good insulation
against fire. Paperbark smolders rather than burning. Indigenous peoples sometimes used it for cooking, as we use
steamers today, and for storing food. It was also used for bandages, bedding, fire tinder, water craft, fish traps,
and for wrapping corpses. They also used it in place of wrapping paper, mattresses, containers, toilet paper, and
roof tiles. Some peoples used it for swaddling babies, for patching canoes, as a fire tray and as shelters. Some
Aboriginal women used it to make dress-barks. The early settlers used the bark for patching their huts, as trays,
and in place of products we now make of cardboard. Today, some people use paperbark in place of foil for barbecuing
fish. Paperbark is also used to line hanging baskets, for a more natural look.
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Melaleuca viridiflora, the Broad-leaved Melaleuca,
occurs across the tropical north of Australia. It grows to a height of 10m (30 feet). The trunk and branches are
clothed in thick papery bark, which gives it its common name. Its leaves are amongst the largest in Melaleucas,
up to 10 cm (4 inches) long and 5 cm (2 inches) wide. It has bottle brush type flower spikes, which are greenish-cream,
but can be pink or red. The flowers have showy stamens, and the profuse blooms produce nectar, which is an excellent
food source for native bees, birds and animals, such as flying foxes. It likes sunny positions and tolerates poorly
drained soils. It is used extensively in urban landscaping, because of its tolerance of pollution, salt winds,
saline soils, wet, and even boggy conditions, but prefers well drained conditions. Although it is a warm climate
plant, it will withstand cold if given full sun. It is remarkably free from pests and diseases.
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B: Pinus roxburghii, the Himalayan Longleaf
or Chir Pine is native to the Himalayan foothills where it grows to a very large tree up to 50 m tall. However
it is usually smaller in cultivation. It cannot withstand severe drought. It is three-needled and its long drooping
needles are up to 30 cm (12 inches) in length, which only last a year on the tree, the shortest life of any pine
needle. Seed was first imported by the Gardens in 1874
The wood is moderately hard, very resinous and can be splintered and used as a torch.
A charcoal made from the leaves, mixed with rice water, is used as ink.
Wood -. Used for construction, shingles, boxes etc. It is useful in cold climates but is not resistant to white
ants
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C: Pinus nigra var. laricio, is often referred to as the
European Black Pine, and has received a substantial number of described names .It is also
known as var. maritima and is the Corsican Pine. It comes from Corsica, Italy, and the south of France.
P. nigra is widely used in Europe and the US as an ornamental, and in forestry for shelter belts, and for
timber production in areas too cold for the faster growing but warmer requiring species. It is very tolerant of
chalk and limestone, and also of urban pollution - perhaps the most pollution-tolerant of any pine. It was one
of the earliest European pines imported into the United States in 1759, and is now one of the most commonly introduced
ornamentals in the US.. It is a widespread and important timber producing tree in Central and Southern Europe,
and continues to be popular as a Christmas tree in the US.
It has a very straight trunk, which makes it suitable for timber, with whitish-brown cracking bark. In Corsica
the trees take 180 years to reach maturity, but in NZ only 50. It has gray-green twisted needles in pairs, about
7 inches long (17 cm), and small cones about 3 inches long (7 cm).
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D: Eucalyptus pilularis , the Blackbutt Gum
distribution favours warm humid climatic conditions. Eucalyptus pilularis grows from Fraser Island in southeast
Queensland to the south coast of NSW. Annual rainfall range, 900-1750 mm. Altitude range, near sea level-300 m
in the south of its range, and up to 600 m in the north. It belongs to the stringy bark group
Found in the coastal plains and nearby lower ranges, between sea and escarpment of New South Wales and southern
Queensland. An important commercial hardwood in eastern Australia.
Occasionally grows very tall long straight trunk, often black in colour at the base if the tree has experienced
fire.
Bark is rough, fibrous and spongy at the base, shedding in strips higher up the trunk leaving a smooth grayish
white surface above.
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E: Pinus radiata
Thomas Coulter at Monterey, California first noted Pinus radiata, in 1830.
Monterey pine (Pinus radiata) is the most widely planted pine in the world. Rapid growth
and desirable lumber and pulp qualities cause it to be the leading introduced species in Australia, New Zealand,
and Spain and a major species in plantations of Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Kenya, and the Republic of South Africa.
In these countries, Monterey pine is a mainstay of the forest economy, serving internal markets, generating valuable
foreign exchange reserves as an export, and reducing cutting pressure on native forests.
Pinus radiata D. Don shows great variability between individual trees. This genetic variation as scientists have
shown, gives the species the potential for genetic improvement through selective breeding'. This has been achieved
in New Zealand, where naturalized stocks have formed the base of an elaborate and scientifically based selection
programme. While intensive breeding began around 1950, the story of genetic improvement in New Zealand begins with
the introduction of the species.
Amongst the first Monterey Pines brought into NZ are these in the Botanic Garden dating from seed imported in 1869.
Alfred Ludlum, who was involved with the garden from the earliest days, is recorded as having had Pinus radiata
in his possession from around 1865. Plants may well have been planted in the Garden from around that time, although
documentary evidence for this is not available. Certainly records show (P. radiata, as P. insignis) were
field planted in June 1871 (24, plus 48 shortly after) with seed regularly purchased from 1870. From 1871 to 1872
361 P. radiata were planted.
The Acland family at Mount Peel Station had made the first NZ introduction of British seedlings in 1859 in Canterbury
only some 30 years after its discovery by European collectors in 1830. Their family property in Devon had been
used to trial the plants, and thus they had the ability to obtain seed at a very early stage. In the early days
they were referred to as Pinus insignis. Further importations of plants from Britain and Australia into the Canterbury
area in particular showed the value of these trees, and Hector was probably aware of their performance in that
area when he arrived in Wellington in 1865. He commenced importing seed from California in comparatively large
quantities, and he would not have done this if he had not had some understanding of their potential value and suitability
to local conditions.
Over the period 1869 to 1879 over 25 kg (56 pounds) of seed was imported from a number of American suppliers in
particular Professor Kellog of San Francisco., which was distributed around NZ, with many plants raised in nurseries
in the Garden. Seed from Matamata was used for initial planting of the pine forests in the central North Island
establishing our forestry industry, and it is likely seed for those plants was from Wellington importations. From
1870 to 1885 some 500,000 Pinus radiata seedlings were distributed throughout the country from the Wellington Botanic
Garden.
Monterey Pine comes from three distinct unconnected areas of central coastal California, named from one locality,
the Monterey Peninsula. It is now rare in its natural habitat because of fungal disease and the encroachment of
towns and cities. In recent years genetically improved trees have been imported back into California from New Zealand,
and these are now cross hybridising with the native stock, raising questions of the status of the native genotype
in its natural habitat.
The
pines in the Wellington Botanic Garden are from wild seed collections
of unselected stock, and therefore represent a very historic and
important genetic resource of the original wild population, which is
being gradually lost in its natural habitat. It is for this reason why
the genetic material of this tress is so valuable with preservation of
the natural genotype of increasing concern.
Pinus radiata was originally brought into the country as a shelter and firewood tree although by the end
of the 19th century its timber capabilities were becoming recognised. It was not until shortly after the First
World War that significant timber planting occurred. Due to many years of selection for the best trees for rapid
growth rate and quality of timber, the trees seen in the pine plantations today do not resemble these trees in
the Garden. These trees are the progeny of unselected natural stock, and contain a wide range of genetic variation,
which is why is has been such a successful tree from which to select the desired characteristics for our timber
industry.
It is an important timber tree in several parts of the world, and the number one timber tree in NZ.
Often seen in this area under the pines in autumn is the red toadstool Amanita muscaria a poisonous mycorhizal
partner growing on pine roots.
This has worldwide distribution, and is the toadstool of fairy tale fame in European literature. It is small but
a giant to 'the little people'.
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F: Sequoiadendron giganteum the
The Giant Sequioa is a true giant of a tree.
It comes from the moist mountain slopes at 1400-2400 m (4500-7500 feet)
on the western side of the Sierra Nevada Range in central California,
limited to 75 scattered groves. Old trees over 3000 years old have been
identified with the General Sherman tree in California estimated to be
3,800 years old.
Like Douglas Fir natural root grafting is common. Although it does not
grow quite as tall as the Californian Coast Redwood it is far more
heavily built and contains the greatest timber volume of any tree. It
can grow to 84 m (275 feet) with a trunk up to 13m (40 feet) in
diameter at the base. Its reddish brown bark is thick, soft and spongy,
which helps to protect it from fire and frost, and also contains tannin
that helps to protect the tree from fungus and insects. The bark also
has little resin in it compared with pine and spruce, which also helps
to make it more resistant to fire. The coarse-grained, very light,
soft, rather brittle timber is very durable, and a single tree could
provide enough timber for 40 five-room houses. Fortunately this fate
does not befall these wonderful trees because they are very rare, and
they are protected in US State and Federal National Parks and Forests.
Trees of ‘Wellingtonias’ were amongst the first planted in the Garden
in the winter of 1871, with a further 24 a short time later.
This species is the biggest (but not the tallest) tree in the world and
can weigh up to 2000 tonnes. Cones take 2 years to mature. In its
native habitat the cones are retained on the tree with viable seed for
up to 30 years[. The cones open after the heat of a forest fire
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G: Pseudotsuga menziesii, Douglas Fir/Oregon
Pine, one of the leading timber trees of the world that produces very fine quality timber.
In North America the red cedar was central to the Native American society, and Douglas Fir became equally essential
to the white pioneer society. It became the 'money tree', providing lumber for immediate needs, and could be shipped
around the country for construction use. It became the fundamental resource of many pioneer towns and the basis
of their economy. It occupied vast tracks along western North America occupying the greatest range of any commercial
conifer, being found from northern Mexico to Southeast Alaska. There were extensive old growth groves of giant
trees, some of which were 1000 years old. Most of the old trees have been felled, but vast areas have been planted
in this fir in New Zealand, Australia, Chile, Argentina, Scotland and Germany. It produces the largest trees of
the Pinaceae family.
This tree grows in areas with marked seasonality. The summer and winter growth rings produce alternate bands of
soft and hard wood, which gives immense strength, producing a natural 'plywood' effect. Large beams and similar
structural elements utilise this timber characteristic. Imported Douglas Fir is superior for this reason to the
home grown product.
The tree can live for over 1000 years and trees aged up to 1400 years have been identified.
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H: Pinus pinea the Mediterranean Stone Pine
also known in older publications as the umbrella pine (obsolete). Sciadopitys verticillata is also known as Umbrella
pine, more correctly as the Japanese Umbrella Pine.
The tree has an interesting and distinctive flattened crown like an umbrella, and a straight though often leaning
trunk. It can cope with extremes of heat and drought, though it is often stunted in the wild. Its globe-like cones
are shiny brown. The bark is reddish-gray and furrowed. It can reach a height of 25 m (80 feet).
It is found from Portugal to Syria, although originally is thought to have come from the Iberian Peninsula, the
only area where it is found away from the main trade routes, being introduced into many areas by primitive man.
Pinus pinea was the first pine used and cultivated by man, its edible seeds having been harvested for perhaps
half a million years or more. Its seeds have been used for food by prehistoric man, shells being found at many
prehistoric sites, and are believed to have been widely traded..
The tree has been cultivated for well over 6,000 years, and possibly for 12,000 to 15,000 years. It is commonly
found along the old trade routes. It continues to be widely cultivated through the Mediterranean area, the richly
flavoured seeds essential for many Portuguese, Spanish and Italian recipes
In ancient Rome a wine was made from the nuts and evidence from Pompii indicated it was widely used in cooking.
The Romans referred to it as the 'Domestic Pine'.
The seed is a good size, up to 20 mm x 10 mm, and is a major source of pinenuts in commerce. The protein content
of some pine nuts exceeds that of all other commercial nuts except the cashews, and is comparable to that of beefsteak.
The protein quality is also very high. Each cone produces approximately 50 nuts, and a pure stand will produce
500 kg cones per hectare per year, which will give around 100 kg of nuts. The nuts are protected by a very hard
shell, but can be released by placing them in a warm oven where they will split open.
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I: Pinus pinaster the Maritime Pine,
or Cluster Pine in older publications, is native of the western Mediterranean, North Africa,
Spain France and the West Coast of Italy, Corsica, Sardine and Malta.. It is a rapidly growing tree to 30 m (100
feet). It does not like drought and frost but does like coastal conditions, and provides good shelter. The maritime
pine has beautiful bark, bright reddish- brown, and deeply furrowed in a jigsaw pattern. It produces large heavy
needles in bundles of 2. During 1871/72 52 trees were planted in the Garden.
It has attractive cones that are oval, curved, and pointed at one end, and are prized for Christmas decorations
in Europe. It is often grown in sand dune country in Europe, and is used for coastal stabilisation in western France
and is the main spices in the largest man-made forest in the world at Les Landes SW France, covering an area of
900,000 ha. It was planted for land reclamation purposes to consolidate a large area of shifting sand dunes.
It is important for the production of turpentine, resin and timber and is planted widely as a timber species in
Portugal. It has been planted in Western Australia in areas with lower rainfall and poorer soils where P. radiata
is not suitable.
A useful pulpwood tree and used for the production of fibreboards. Often planted as a shelterbelt along exposed
coasts and also to stabilise sandy soils. It is very tolerant of maritime exposure, but may require staking when
it is young.
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