Hoheria glabrata

Hoheria glabrata, the mountain ribbonwood or houhere, is a deciduous tree or large shrub in the family Malvaceae, endemic to New Zealand, where it grows in montane forest, forest margins and stream banks of the South Island and Stewart Island. It reaches around 6 to 10 metres in height, with spreading branches and smooth bark over a fibrous, ribbon-like inner bast. The leaves are broadly ovate to heart-shaped, thin, soft and pale green, with conspicuously toothed margins, and are shed in autumn. In summer the tree is covered in masses of fragrant, white, five-petalled flowers up to about 2.5 centimetres across, borne in clusters and rich in nectar that attracts insects. The fruit is a winged, dry schizocarp that splits into several segments. Mountain ribbonwood is a graceful flowering tree of cooler, wetter mountain habitats and is the more cold-tolerant of New Zealand's lacebarks, sometimes cultivated as an ornamental.