Brachyglottis repanda
Brachyglottis repanda, the rangiora or bushman's friend, is a small, bushy tree or tall shrub endemic to New Zealand. It grows to a height of. The petioles of the leaves have a characteristic groove up to long. The large leaves with a soft furry underside have been referred to as "bushman's toilet paper".
Description
Rangiora is a species of shrub or small tree which grows to around tall and has corky bark. It has leathery long, wide leaves suspended off of grooved petioles. The leaves are a pale green above and white underneath as the underside is covered with many tiny white hairs. It flowers from August to October with dramatic panicle inflorescences made of six ribs and long involucral bracts. Pseudanthium are in diameter and the inflorescences contain 10–12 yellow florets. The seeds are oblong and long, with rough yellow pappus. It fruits from November to December and disperses its seeds via the wind.Etymology
The Māori language name for the plant, rangioraa, is of uncertain origin, but is formed from the words rangi and ora. The word is unique to Māori, and not used in other Polynesian languages for similar plants. Other Māori language names include pukapuka, whārangi, kōuaha, pukariao, puke-rangiora, raurākau, raurēkau and whārangi-tawhito. The species epithet Repanda means irregularly undulating, referring to the leaf margins. The colloquial name bushman's friend was coined by early European settlers in New Zealand, and is a reference to its use as an emergency toilet paper in the bush.Distribution and habitat
Rangiora is endemic to New Zealand, growing in the North Island and the South Island as far south as Greymouth. It is often an early pioneer species in disturbed areas of forest.Ecology
B. repanda plays host to the larvae of the moth species Stigmella cypracma. The larvae mine the leaves of B. repanda leaving damaged leaves in their wake.Cultivation
Rangiora is easy to grow either from seed or from cuttings, though may be short-lived and requires a hard prune after flowering.In Māori culture
Rangiora in Māori culture is a symbol of health and living, often contrasted with kawakawa, a plant associated with death. Māori used the plant for a number of medicinal uses. Rangiora leaves were used for wounds and old ulcerated sores, and the gum was chewed for foul breath but was poisonous if swallowed. The plants were also used by hunters as a way to mark trails, by breaking and exposing the white undersides of the leaves.The ethnographer Richard Taylor recorded that the leaves were used to wrap cakes made from hīnau berry meal while they cooked in a hāngī. They were also used, he claimed, to line the baskets which held the siftings of raupō pollen in the process of making bread, the siftings then being thrown out. An oil can be produced by heating the gum, which was applied to fish hooks as a lacquer.
Rangiora leaves are also the basis for topa, a paper plane made from the leaves by children.