''Cordyline banksii'' (forest cabbage tree, ''tī ngahere'') is a

monocot Monocotyledons (), commonly referred to as monocots, (Lilianae ''sensu'' Chase & Reveal) are flowering plants whose seeds contain only one Embryo#Plant embryos, embryonic leaf, or cotyledon. A monocot taxon has been in use for several decades, but ...

tree endemic to

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. The specific epithet ''banksii'' refers to the 18th-century botanist

Joseph Banks Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English Natural history, naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the European and American voyages of scientific exploration, 1766 natural-history ...

Distribution

''Cordyline banksii'' tolerates a wide variety of habitats. It is common in coastal, lowland, and lower montane forests in the

North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...

, widespread in the northern half of the

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

and Westland as far south as Haast. It has occasionally been reported from coastal

Fiordland Fiordland (, "The Pit of Tattooing", and also translated as "the Shadowlands"), is a non-administrative geographical region of New Zealand in the south-western corner of the South Island, comprising the western third of Southland. Most of F ...

, but these sightings are unsubstantiated. It also occasionally occurs in subalpine regions in the South Island. In shrublands it occurs with '' Cordyline pumilio'' and may form hybrids with it.

Description

Tī ngahere is a sparingly-branched cabbage tree up to tall. The leaves are lanceolate (somewhat paddle-shaped), up to long and from wide. The leaves are broad in the mid portion and droop from there. A prominent flat midrib runs the whole length of the leaf. The fruiting panicle is up to 2 metres in length. The flowers are white and pleasantly perfumed. The globe-shaped fruit are up to in diameter, and are white, bluish-white, or blue.

Threats

''C. banksii'' is not regarded as threatened. Unlike '' C. australis'' it seems to be resistant to a

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that adversely affects the structure or function (biology), function of all or part of an organism and is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical condi ...

called "sudden decline", caused by the

pathogen In biology, a pathogen (, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of"), in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a Germ theory of d ...

'' Phytoplasma australiense''.

Cultivation

''C. banksii'' is easy to grow. Fresh seed takes readily, and cuttings taken from the stems and trunk and shoots root quickly. It is rarer in cultivation than ''C. australis'' but is available from many nurseries and garden centres, often as a purple-leaved cultivar. Useful for steep slopes or poorly drained situations. The plant is hardy in USDA zones 10a and 11.

References

*Salmon J T, ''The Native Trees of New Zealand'', AH & AW Reed, Wellington, New Zealand, 1973. * *

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cordyline Banksii Trees of New Zealand banksii Taxa named by Joseph Dalton Hooker