The cabbage tree is one of the most distinctive trees in the New Zealand landscape, especially on farms. They grow all over the country, but prefer wet, open areas like swamps.
Commonly known as the cabbage tree, or by its Māori name of tī or tī kōuka, is a widely branched monocot tree endemic to New Zealand. It grows up to 20 metres tall with a stout trunk and sword-like leaves, which are clustered at the tips of the branches and can be up to 1 metre long
Quick facts
- The trunk of the cabbage tree is so fire-resistant that early European settlers used it to make chimneys for their huts. Conveniently, too, the leaves made fine kindling. They also brewed beer from the root.
- Cabbage trees are one of the most widely cultivated New Zealand natives and are very popular in Europe, Britain and the U.S. In the U.K. they are known as Torquay palm.
- Cabbage trees are good colonising species, growing happily on bare ground or exposed places.
- Their strong root system helps stop soil erosion on steep slopes and because they tolerate wet soil, they are a useful species for planting along stream banks.
- Māori used cabbage trees as a food, fibre and medicine. The root, stem and top are all edible, a good source of starch and sugar. The fibre is separated by long cooking or by breaking up before cooking.
- The leaves were woven into baskets, sandals, rope, rain capes and other items and were also made into tea to cure diarrhoea and dysentery.
- Cabbage trees were also planted to mark trails, boundaries, urupā (cemeteries) and births, since they are generally long-lived.
A mystery solved…
In 1987, a mystery disease started to kill off cabbage trees in the North Island of New Zealand. It was not known what caused the disease, which was called ‘sudden decline’, and hypotheses for its cause included tree aging, fungi, viruses, and environmental factors such as enhanced UV.
After nearly five years of work, scientists found the cause was a parasitic organism called a phytoplasma, which they think might be spread from tree to tree by a tiny sap-sucking insect, the introduced passion vine hopper. The phytoplasma is native to New Zealand flax, and early last century caused massive epidemics of yellow leaf disease in flax, destroying the once extensive flax swamps of Manawatu and contributing to the eventual collapse of the once flourishing flax fibre industry.
- sources: Department of Conservation NZ; wikipedia
