NZ Native Trees #19 – Rangiora (Upper Hutt) Traditional Cache

This cache takes you along the forestry track that sidles alongside Goat Rock and helps you to identify a very common small native tree and one that is popular for hiding caches under or behind, so sometimes gets referred to in hints. A useful tree to be able to identify easily! It is number 19 in a series of caches situated close to native trees.

This cache is dedicated to wb1116 who provided me with the inspiration for another tree in this series .

Rangiora

Common name: Rangiora

Botanical name: Brachyglottis repanda

The rangiora is a shrub or small tree that grows up to 7 m high (about the height of the tallest one in my garden). It is common from North Cape to as far south as Greymouth and Kaikoura and grows from sea level to 750 m altitude in scrub and along forest margins.

The tree has stout brittle branches covered in soft pale grey or buff-coloured hairs. Both the leaves and the flowers are poisonous if chewed and swallowed, but that in turn gives them some medicinal qualities. Bruised leaves mixed with olive oil were used as poultices for boils by early settlers. In spite of the poisonous nature of the leaves, their size and soft furry coating meant they were also used as a toilet paper substitute by early settlers, which gave it an alternative name at the time of ‘bushman’s friend’.

Leaves

The leaves are very distinctive, being large and leathery, green above and pale grey and furry beneath. The leaf is from 5 to 25 cm long and from 5 to 20 cm wide and has prominent veins and wavy margins.

Upper surface of leaf

Under surface of leaf

Flowers

Flowers are cream-coloured and fragrant and are borne in great numbers on large panicles in spring. Each flower is about 5 mm across. Flower panicles are erect when near the top of the tree, but are often drooping when located further down the tree.

Bark

The bark is a buff colour and can be studded with darker brown raised nodules on old trees. On fresh new growth the bark is pale grey due to the fine hairs that cover it.

Bark on a not-very-old branch

Bark on new growth

The Rangiora at GZ

The tree at GZ is quite small, more a large shrub than a tree.

The cache

The cache is as usual a red M&M container and at time of placement contained a log sheet, a gel pen and a yellow star hand stamp to trade. Online logs that do not have a matching signature in the paper log will be deleted. There is room for small TBs and Geocoins inside.