Akeake (Dodonaea viscosa)
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Sapindaceae
Genus: Dodonaea
Species: D. viscosa
Binomial name: Dodonaea viscosa
Common name: Akeake, Hopbush
D. viscosa is New Zealands sole species. It is a shrub growing to 1–3 m tall, rarely a small tree to 9 m tall. The leaves are simple elliptical, 4–7.5 cm long and 1–1.5 cm broad, alternate in arrangement, and secrete a resinous substance.
The flowers are yellow to orange-red and produced in panicles about 2.5 cm in length. The fruit is a capsule 1.5 cm broad, red ripening brown, with two to four wings. Flowering occurs spring to mid-summer
The bark seperates into long stripes. The wood is extremely tough and durable, and New Zealand's Maori have used akeake to fashion clubs and other weapons.
The Maori name for the shrub, akeake, means "forever and ever".
An adult tree about 9 m tall
A young tree
Leaves
Fruit capsule
Trunk of the Akeake
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