Schefflera digitata

Taxobox | name = Seven Finger

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image_width = 240px
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Magnoliopsida
ordo = Apiales
familia = Araliaceae
subfamilia = Aralioideae
genus = "Schefflera"
species = "S. digitata"
binomial = "Schefflera digitata"
binomial_authority = J.R.Forst. et G.Forst.

"Schefflera digitata", Pate or Seven-finger, is a tree endemic to New Zealand belonging to the family Araliaceae. The Māori name is Patē or Patatē. It occurs in lowland to lower montane forests from sea level to 1200 m in the North Island, South Island, and Stewart Island (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 which has 200 species of shrubs and small trees in the tropics and subtropics.

Description

Pate 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 is a large, multi-branched panicle up to 35 cm across, with umbrels of small greenish flowers arising at irregular intervals along its length. Each umbrel contains up to ten flowers 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. Pate is one of the commonest hosts of the parasitic plant "Dactylanthus taylori". This is a root parasite which was known to the Māori as 'Pua-o-te-reinga', 'the flower of the underworld'. If infected roots are collected and boiled, a curio known as the 'wood rose' is produced. Although the plant is easy to grow in New Zealand, it is not popular in cultivation, as its thin, soft foliage cannot match the glossy attractiveness of similar Pseudopanax species, nor that of the Australian species "Schefflera actinophylla" 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, Pate is not tolerant of prolonged cold conditions.

External links

*cite web |title="Schefflera digitata" |work=New Zealand Plant Conservation Network |url=http://www.nzpcn.org.nz/vascular_plants/detail.asp?PlantID=1312|accessdate=2007-07-15
*cite web |title="Schefflera digitata" |work=Flora of New Zealand |url=http://floraseries.landcareresearch.co.nz/pages/Taxon.aspx?id=_d42c521d-e1e9-452e-941e-f672e09bfea3&fileName=Flora%201.xml|accessdate=2007-07-15

References

* Salmon J T, "The Native Trees of New Zealand", AH & AW Reed Ltd, Wellington, New Zealand 1973 ISBN 0-589-01340-8