Southern rata

Metrosideros umbellata, southern rātā, is an evergreen tree in the family Myrtaceae endemic to New Zealand, occurring throughout the South Island, Stewart Island and the subantarctic Auckland Islands, with scattered relict populations on Great and Little Barrier Islands and the Coromandel Range of the North Island. Mature trees reach about 15 m in height with a trunk up to 1 m in diameter, the thin papery bark peeling off in flakes. The opposite, leathery leaves are lanceolate, 2 to 6 cm long, dark glossy green above and paler beneath, with a prominent midrib and a distinctively pointed tip. In summer the tree produces masses of scarlet flowers in terminal umbel-like cymes, each flower with numerous long projecting red stamens that obscure the small petals, giving the canopy a vivid crimson appearance. The species is long-lived, often reaching 400 to 500 years, and in humid forest may develop aerial roots from the trunk after about a century. It grows from sea level to above 1,100 m elevation in upland forest and on cliff faces.