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Alectryon excelsus
Three Kings Titoki (Alectryon excelsus) is a New Zealand tree, a subspecies of tītoki native to the Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands, reaching 15 to 20 metres tall with glossy leaves and crimson flowers. It is grown mainly as a shade or specimen tree in mild climates, and it is not a common container plant.
Alectryon excelsus, commonly known as tītoki, New Zealand ash, or the New Zealand oak, is a species of tree in the family Sapindaceae. It reaches 20 metres (66 feet) in height. It is endemic to New Zealand; its range mainly covers the North Island, but is also present in the South Island with the Banks Peninsula being its southern limit. There are two recognised subspecies of this plant: A. excelsus subsp. excelsus native to mainland New Zealand, and subsp. grandis native to the Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands. A. excelsus has glossy alternating leaves. The seeds are found in brown seed capsules which split when mature.
The plant was first described by the German botanist Joseph Gaertner in 1788. A. excelsus's pollination strategy is not certain. The seeds are dispersed by fruit-eating animals (frugivores), such as birds. A.
Alectryon excelsus's seeds are dispersed by fruit-eating animals (frugivores), such as birds. They are eaten by common blackbirds (Turdus merula), kererū (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae), kōkako (Callaeas sp.), tūī (Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae), and song thrushes (Turdus philomelos). It is possible that a species of lizard, the Falla's skink (Oligosoma fallai), may be a disperser of A. excelsus subsp. grandis's fruits. Possums freely eat the leaves and fruits. Deer also browse the tree, although not to the extant that possums do. A. excelsus has been suspected in causing deaths in cattle as the plant contains hydrocyanic acids, as such, the botanist Henry Connor classifies the plant as poisonous in his book, The Poisonous Plants in New Zealand.
Alectryon excelsus has several recorded Māori names, including, tapitapi, tītoki, tītongi, tokitoki, tongitongi, and topitopi. A. excelsus had several uses for the indigenous Māori people, but the oil from the seeds were especially prized by them. They also planted the seeds, ate the fruits when food was scarce, and used parts of the plant medicinally. The seeds were used to create an oil that was very highly regarded and was a traditional status symbol.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Alectryon excelsus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
