Mahoe
Common name: Whiteywood
Botanical name: Melicytus ramiflorus
The mahoe is a small tree, usually spreading, growing up to 10 m high, with a trunk up to 60 cms in diameter. The trunk is usually short with branches starting close to the ground, unlike most other trees in this series so far and with age this gives it a very gnarled appearance, especially when growing in the open in windy spots.
Lack of a single trunk on this mahoe in CO's garden
The tree can live a long time. It is one of the most common native trees in New Zealand, found in forest and scrub all over the country.
Bark
The bark is quite smooth and whitish, often covered in fine white lichen
Light coloured bark and lighter lichen patches
Leaves
The young leaves are a bright yellow-green, darkening as they age. Leaves are 5 to 15 cms long and 3 to 5 cms wide, with slightly serrated edges. They are slightly darker above than below.
New leaves
Flowers and fruit
Flowers are abundant and are produced in clusters along the branchlets and in leaf axils during November and December. The male flowers are larger than the female and are white or cream in colour.
Female flowers
These are followed by small fruits, about 3 mms across, that start out green and ripen to a rich purple colour by March.
Unripe fruit
Ripe fruit is a deep purple colour
Native birds are very fond of the fruit and disperse the seed far and wide. If you have a mahoe in your garden you will each year have many seedlings appearing all over the place.
The mahoe at GZ
The tree at GZ is not a particularly grand specimen, though it is quite typical of an older tree in thick bush. In fact there are some much more venerable and gnarled specimens at the far end of Collie’s Track down by SH2, but I couldn’t place a cache there as GSEL had already grabbed that site for another cache. That aside, this is a very pleasant location to sit and rest from what is bound to have been a bit of a tiring journey to get here, whichever route you took, before you head elsewhere to find more caches.
The gnarly tree at GZ
The cache
The cache is a red M&M container (surprise!) and at time of placement contained a log sheet and a gel pen only. Please make sure you bring your own writing implement to sign the log in case the pen has run out of gone walkabout. Online logs that are found not to have a matching entry in the paper log will be deleted. Please rehide carefully to make sure after replacing it that the cache cannot be glimpsed from the track in either direction as it is NOT a camo’d container.