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Melicytus ramiflorus, the Māhoe tree also known as Whiteywood or hinahina, is a native New Zealand small tree or shrub found in the lower regions and montane forests of New Zealand.

Description
The M. ramiflorus tree has alternating toothed leaves on its branches, the trunk is smooth with white lichen patches along it. In early summer Māhoe flowers begin to grow outward of its branches, then as it comes to the end of summer it produces small purple fruit. The leaves of the M. ramiflorus tree grow 5-20cm long and are light green colored. The lower trunk of the M. ramiflorus tree holds many branches, it has a white colored and soft textured wood on the inside of trunk, the bark is a dull grey/white color with the underside of this bark having a lighter green color. For the flowering on M. ramiflorus trees, there are between 2-10 flowered fascicles growing outwards from each branchlet, the flowers are recorded to grow between 3-4mm in diameter. The branchlets grow in a clustered way with several branchlets growing very close together rather than separated, these branchlets are quite fragile and twiggy. The berry fruit are a light to dark purple color, growing up to 4-5mm in diameter producing around 3-6 seeds per berry. M. ramiforus is part of the Violaceae which is endemic to New Zealand.

Distribution
The M. ramiflorus tree is endemic to New Zealand, although there are three other subspecies of M. ramiflorus which grow outside of New Zealand. There is ssp. fastigiata to Fiji, ssp. samoensis to Samoa, ssp. oblongifolius to Norfolk.

M. ramiflorus is a small sized tree or shrub, they grow up to 10m tall in the coastal regions approximately 1000m above sea level, lowland and in montane forests all over New Zealand. The M. ramiflorus tree trunk can grow to an approximate 60cm in diameter.

Life Cycle
In early summer M. ramiflorus produces flowers, these flowers are small, greenish-yellow, hold a sweet scent, and grows outward from the branches. In late summer, female M. ramiflorus produces fruit, these fruit are small berries and spherical with a purple color to them. The size of the berry grow to about 4-5mm. In terms of germination of these M. ramiflorus seeds, when the berry fruit has ripened that is the perfect time to collect them for propogation, seeds then sowed into firm raised bed lightly covered with soil, then dependent on temperature the seeds will germinate after 2 months. Initial signs of germination is when there is cracking of the M. ramiflorus seed coat, during germination the seeds can release a sweet scent.

Interactions
M. ramiflorus have quite the tolerance for withstanding a range of environmental conditions in New Zealand, they can handle both shady and sunny areas and both dry and wet weather conditions. M. ramiflorus attracts a range of species who come to feed on its nectar, fruit, bark and leaves. The M. ramiflorus nectar is collected by honey bees, thrips, flies, stitchbirds, tūī, bellbirds and kākā. The purple berry fruit are eaten by possums, bellbirds, tūī, kererū, whiteheads, kākāriki, kōkako, silvereyes, green geckos and weka. Possums also leave territorial bite marks on the trunks of the M. ramiflorus tree, leaves are eaten by possums, kererū, kōkako, goats and deer.

Further Information
M. ramiflorus trees were used by Maori, predominantly to create fire from the friction of a dried M. ramiflorus tree slab being rubbed against by a sharp ended stick of hard wood ( either from a totara or kaikomako tree). The Maori would also use the M. ramiflorus tree medicinally, from both the bark of the tree and the leaves as they hold natural medicinal benefits. When the people got scabies or rheumatism, they would boil up several M. ramiflorus leaves in a pot of hot water and would use this tonic liquid as a healing agent by applying it to the infected area of skin. Maori weavers created a natural dye using the M. ramiflorus leaves which came out as a dull green color.