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Lauraceae FAMILY

Beilschmiedia tawa

Beilschmiedia tawa

Edibility
2/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitEvergreen Tree
Growth—

Beilschmiedia tawa occurs naturally over a wide climatic range in New Zealand, but is patently sensitive to exposure, drought, snow fall, and severe frost. Mature plants can withstand short-lived temperatures down to about . 9°C, but their young growth is severely to fatally damaged by out-of-season frosts[1]. Seedlings are particularly susceptible to damage by frost, wind, drought, and sun, and do not establish readily in large canopy gaps[1]. Plants tolerate a very wide range of soils but do not thrive under poor drainage, nor on dry, rocky soils[1]. Trees, even when fairly old, can be coppiced[1]. Under moist conditions the fast growing taproot penetrates litter and humus layers and quickly reaches the mineral soil; such seedlings often survive for a long period under the dense shade of high forest.The plant can develop a large root system under these conditions, even though the shoots may die back several times. The root stock may thus become a perennating organ, assisting survival of the plant, and enabling it to produce further shoots when light becomes more favourable[1]. Under a dense canopy seedlings may persist for many years with little or no gain in height; in one trial plot under such conditions small seedlings which survived for 17 years gained only 5- 10cm in height[1]. In small canopy gaps annual height growth of seedlings averages approx. 15cm but coppice shoots from damaged or cut stems in the same situations may grow up to 50cm in 1 year[1]. The largest trees probably have a life span of some 400 years; but as the species is more susceptible to heart-rot, and large diameters are not common, the average life span is likely to be 200 - 300 years for trees that have not been suppressed for long periods when small[1].

Propagation

Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe when almost 100% will germinate. Viability deteriorates rapidly as the seed dried[1]. Layering, even of quite old branches, is fairly easy[1].. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Beilschmiedia+tawa>

Pollinators

Wind, Insects

References

  1. [1]Beilschmiedia tawa (A. Cunn.) Benth. et Hook. F. ex Kirk (Lauraceae) Tawa — Barbara Knowles & A.E. Beveridge ↩︎An in-depth treatment of the plant, its ecology and uses.
  2. [2]Tropical Timbers of the World. Ag. Handbook No. 607. — Chudnoff. Martin. · USDA Forest Service. Wisconsin. · 1984 ↩︎Terse details on the properties of the wood of almost 400 species of trees from the Tropics.
  3. [3]Flora of New Zealand. — Allan. H. H. · Government Printer, Wellington. · 1961 · http://floraseries.landcareresearch.co.nz/pages/Book.aspx?fileName=Flora%201.xml · ISBN - ↩︎The standard work, in 5 volumes though only the first two are of interest to the plant project. Very good on habitats. There is also an on-line version.
  4. [4]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
  5. [5]A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. — Usher. G. · Constable · 1974 · ISBN 0094579202 ↩︎Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.
  6. [6]Plants of New Zealand. — Laing. and Blackwell. · Whitcombe and Tombs Ltd · 1907 · ISBN - ↩︎An old flora of New Zealand in a readable style. Some details of plant uses.
  7. [7]Economic Native Plants of New Zealand. — Brooker. S. G., Cambie. R. C. and Cooper. R. C. · Oxford University Press · 1991 · ISBN 0-19-558229-2 ↩︎An interesting and readable book on the useful plants of New Zealand.
  8. [8]People Plants Database — https://maoriplantuse.landcareresearch.co.nz/WebForms/default.aspx ↩︎An online database of New Zealand plants and their Maori names and uses. An excellent information source.
  9. [9]Native Edible Plants of New Zealand. — Crowe. A. · Hodder and Stoughton · 1990 · ISBN 0-340-508302 ↩︎A very well written and illustrated book based on the authors own experiments with living on a native diet.