The New Zealand Christmas tree
The skies are grey in England,
While ours are blue and clear.
The holly gleams in England,
Pohutukawa here.
But the self-same Christmas spirit
Holds each world in thrall,
As we spread the Christmas message,
“Peace and goodwill to all.”
This poem comes from a 1930 edition of the New Zealand Herald, and it compares Christmas in England with Christmas in New Zealand.
The author notes that while holly is traditionally associated with Christmas in the Northern Hemisphere, in Aotearoa it is the pōhutukawa tree that provides festive red and green foliage each December. ( TePapa)
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The pohutukawa tree (Metrosideros excelsa) with its crimson flower has become an established part of the New Zealand Christmas tradition. This iconic Kiwi ( New Zealand) Christmas tree, which often features on greeting cards and in poems and songs, has become an important symbol for New Zealanders at home and abroad.
In 1833 the missionary Henry Williams described holding service under a ‘wide spreading pohutukawa’. The first known published reference to the pohutukawa as a Christmas tree came in 1857 when ‘flowers of the scarlet Pohutukawa, or “Christmas tree”’ formed part of table decorations at a feast put on by Ngāpuhi leader Eruera Patuone. Several years later Austrian geologist Ferdinand von Hochstetter noted that settlers referred to it as such. The pohutukawa, he observed, ‘about Christmas … are full of charming … blossoms’; ‘the settler decorates his church and dwellings with its lovely branches’. Other 19th-century references described the pohutukawa tree as the ‘Settlers Christmas tree’ and ‘Antipodean holly’. ( from NZ History)
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Pōhutukawa holds a prominent place in Maori mythology.
Threats to pōhutukawa and rātā
Possums
As possum populations have built up in forest areas, there has been a corresponding loss of some of our forest species.
Possums browse a wide range of plants but show strong preferences for some species like rātā and pōhutukawa.
Rātā and pōhutukawa trees cannot tolerate sustained possum browsing. A mature tree can be killed in three years with intensive browsing and even young trees, although they can survive for longer, will eventually die if browsed regularly.
When the browsed trees die back, the canopy, or top layer of the forest, is opened up. This exposes other trees to windthrow and damage from storms, insects, weed invasion, and diseases.
Myrtle rust
Pōhutukawa and rātā are members of the Myrtle family. They are all under potential threat from the fungal disease myrtle rust which is now established in New Zealand.
Other threats
Other threats include the following.
- People damage trees by using their branches for firewood, lighting fires under them and parking cars on their roots.
- Weeds and grasses often prevent regeneration by smothering young seedlings.
Our work
DOC works closely with other agencies such as Project Crimson to restore rātā and pōhutukawa habitat on the mainland through education and revegetation programmes. ( source : https://www.doc.govt.nz )
