''Schefflera digitata'', the patē, seven-finger, or umbrella tree, is a tree endemic to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

belonging to the family

Araliaceae The Araliaceae are a family of flowering plants composed of about 43 genera and around 1500 species consisting of primarily woody plants and some herbaceous plants. The morphology of Araliaceae varies widely, but it is predominantly distinguisha ...

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

names include: ''patē'', ''patatē'', ''patete'', and ''kōtētē''. It occurs in lowland to lower montane forests from sea level to 1200 m in the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-larges ...

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasma ...

, and

Stewart Island Stewart Island ( mi, Rakiura, ' glowing skies', officially Stewart Island / Rakiura) is New Zealand's third-largest island, located south of the South Island, across the Foveaux Strait. It is a roughly triangular island with a total land ar ...

, covering a latitudinal range from 34°S to 47°S. It prefers damp, shady parts of the forest and is common along stream banks and on shady forest roadsides. It is the only New Zealand representative of the genus ''

Schefflera ''Schefflera'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araliaceae. With an estimated 600–900 species, the genus represents about half of its family. The plants are trees, shrubs or lianas, growing tall, with woody stems, the absence o ...

'', which has 12 other species on the Pacific islands.

Description

Patē is a small, spreading tree up to 8 m high with stout branches. The leaves may have from three to nine leaflets. The leaflets are thin and soft to the touch with sharply serrated margins. In the north of the North Island, ''S. digitata'' has a juvenile stage in which the leaflets are divided into irregular toothed lobes. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed ...

is a large, multi-branched

panicle A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is ...

up to 35 cm across, with

umbels In botany, an umbel is an inflorescence that consists of a number of short flower stalks (called pedicels) that spread from a common point, somewhat like umbrella ribs. The word was coined in botanical usage in the 1590s, from Latin ''umbella'' "p ...

of small greenish

flowers A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

arising at irregular intervals along its length. Each

umbel In botany, an umbel is an inflorescence that consists of a number of short flower stalks (called pedicels) that spread from a common point, somewhat like umbrella ribs. The word was coined in botanical usage in the 1590s, from Latin ''umbella'' " ...

contains up to ten

each about 7 mm in diameter. The dark violet fruits are fleshy, round, and grooved when dry. They are about 3.5 mm in diameter and take two or three months to ripen.

Ecology and uses

The sap of the tree has medicinal uses, and has been used to treat ringworm and sores on the skin. The wood was used by Māori to make fire by friction. Patē is the most common host of the parasitic plant '' Dactylanthus taylori''. This is a root parasite that was known to the Māori as ''pua-o-te-reinga'', 'the flower of the underworld'. Wood rose is threatened with extinction, which is thought to be due to several factors including the poaching of plants for sale as curios. Although patē is easy to grow in New Zealand, it is not popular in cultivation, as its thin, soft foliage cannot match the glossy attractiveness of the similar '' Pseudopanax'' species, nor that of the Australian species ''

Heptapleurum actinophyllum ''Heptapleurum actinophyllum'' (formerly ''Schefflera actinophylla'') is a tree in the family Araliaceae. It is native to tropical rainforests and gallery forests in northern and north-eastern Queensland coasts and the Northern Territory of Aust ...

'', which is also easy to grow in the North Island. ''S. digitata'' is sometimes grown by Northern Hemisphere gardeners thinking it may be relatively hardy, but like many New Zealand trees, patē is not tolerant of prolonged cold conditions.

References

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

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q6821529 digitata Trees of New Zealand Ornamental trees Trees of mild maritime climate