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Rangiora
Brachyglottis repanda
Brachyglottis repanda, the rangiora or bushman's friend, is a small, bushy tree or tall shrub endemic to New Zealand. It grows to a height of 5 to 7 meters (16 to 23 ft). The petioles of the leaves have a characteristic groove up to 10 centimetres (3.9 in) long. The large leaves with a soft furry underside have been referred to as "bushman's toilet paper".
From the article Brachyglottis repanda on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
Rangiora is a species of shrub or small tree which grows to around 6 metres (20 ft) tall and has corky bark. It has leathery 5–25 centimetres (2.0–9.8 in) long, 5–20 centimetres (2.0–7.9 in) wide leaves suspended off of 8–10 centimetres (3.1–3.9 in) grooved petioles. The leaves are a pale green above and white underneath as the underside is covered with many tiny white hairs. It flowers from August to October with dramatic panicle inflorescences made of six ribs and 3 millimetres (0.12 in) long involucral bracts. Pseudanthium are 5 millimetres (0.20 in) in diameter and the inflorescences contain 10–12 yellow florets. The seeds are oblong and 1–1.8 millimetres (0.039–0.071 in) long, with 2–3 millimetres (0.079–0.118 in) rough yellow pappus. It fruits from November to December and disperses its seeds via the wind.
Range & habitat
Rangiora is endemic to New Zealand, growing in the North Island and the South Island as far south as Greymouth. It is often an early pioneer species in disturbed areas of forest.
Wikipedia: “Distribution and habitat”
What it does
B. repanda plays host to the larvae of the moth species Stigmella cypracma. The larvae mine the leaves of B. repanda leaving damaged leaves in their wake.
Wikipedia: “Ecology”
At the table
The leaves of the plant were used as emergency toilet paper used by early European settlers living or working in the bush. The reverse side of the leaves have also been used as notepaper and in place of postcards.
Wikipedia: “Modern uses”
Toxicity
Rangiora is poisonous, and has been linked to livestock deaths and poisonings. When used in Māori traditional cuisine, the gum of the plant is used as a chewing gum and not swallowed, or leaves of the plant are used to wrap food cooked in a hāngī. The botanist and chemist Bernard Aston reported that the honey made by bees produced with the nectar from rangiora is poisonous, and for this reason Māori never collected honey when it was in flower. Livestock, particularly horses, are affected by the plant's toxins, making the animals appear drunk, stagger around and fall, often to their death, as a result.
How it is grown
Rangiora is easy to grow either from seed or from cuttings, though may be short-lived and requires a hard prune after flowering.
Wikipedia: “Cultivation”
In human culture
The Māori language name for the plant, rangioraa, is of uncertain origin, but is formed from the words rangi (sky) and ora (health). The word is unique to Māori, and not used in other Polynesian languages for similar plants. Other Māori language names include pukapuka, whārangi, kōuaha, pukariao, puke-rangiora, raurākau, raurēkau and whārangi-tawhito. The species epithet Repanda means irregularly undulating, referring to the leaf margins. The colloquial name bushman's friend was coined by early European settlers in New Zealand, and is a reference to its use as an emergency toilet paper in the bush.
Wikipedia: “Etymology”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Brachyglottis repanda in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 336384.