Forest Vines to Snow Tussocks: The Story of New Zealand Plants
Bud Protection
Bud Protection
Figure 24 Tarata or lemonwood (Pittosporum eugenioides). Overwintering buds with overlapping bud scales.
Photo: M. D. King.
In this respect the woody flowering plants of the New Zealand conifer broadleaf forest seem comparable to those of the tropics. Of 45 genera only 3 have numerous, relatively large bud scales — Pittosporum (Fig. 24), Aristotelia and the tree species of Metrosideros. In the beech forest (see Chapter 5) the species of Nothofagus also have many overlapping bud scales.
Nineteen genera have no bud protective structures at all although the immature leaves are often hairy (Fig. 25). Admittedly, genera in this group with strong tropical affinities, for example Dysoxylum, Vitex, Beilschmiedia, Litsea, are represented by only one or two species in New Zealand.
The remaining genera afford their immature leaves partial or complete protection with a few small scales or with the stipules or sheathing bases of adjacent mature or developing leaves. Some also form protective secretions such as mucilage in Coprosma and a varnish-like material in some species of Pseudopanax.