RATA - Northern rata
Metrosideros robusta
This tree starts life as a vine, and in a most unusual way. The seeds alight on the top of a tree, often a rimu, and send aerial shoots to the ground. These grow together and surround the tree. The creeper then climbs round and up the trunk again, and smothers the top with a cloud of crimson blossom , a glorious sight, which today people travel many miles to see. The flowers and leaves cut off light, and the tree beneath, the parent tree in effect, dies and the rata stands in its stead, the climbing vine having formed a new trunk around it. The puriri is said to be the only tree which can resist the strangling growth of this vine.
Rata wood is reddish brown with a twisted grain, because of the nature of its growth. Sometimes it has a hollow trunk, which comes about when the first tree trunk crumbles.’
The wood is tough and strong and because of these features was used for bridges, houses and furniture.
The leaves are one to one and a half inches long, single, with pointed ends, and come in alternate pairs from opposite sides of the stems. They resemble a pohutukawa leaf, but are thinner and flatter, and without the white felt underside.
The scarlet flowers are in umbels, with stalks rather like the spokes of an umbrella.
Rata can grow to a height of eighty to a hundred feet, with a trunk up to eighteen to twenty feet in diameter. It is one of the dominant trees of the lowland and mountain forests.
The Maoris made good use of the inner bark, which contains much tannin. They first stripped off the outer bark, cut the inner one into pieces, and steeped them in hot water for three hours. They used the liquid in many ways, as it had astringent and emollient properties. They washed wounds and rheumatic joints with it (Goldie), and it was a good cure for ringworm, especially on children’s heads. It was taken internally for colds and dysentery.
An astringent and strengthening drink was obtained by making an incision in a young stem and inverting it to let the juice flow. Baber writes that “it was very wholesome”. This juice, because of its astringent qualities, was poured over a wound, to arrest bleeding, before it was bandaged with leaves. The young leaves were chewed for toothache and the nectar from the flowers eased sore throats.
