wineberry with tart red fruit loved by birds

Size
Height: 800–1200 cm
Lifespan
30–50 years
Diet
Produces small, white flowers in spring that are followed by small, black berries that are eaten by native birds including kererū, tūī, and bellbirds. The berries are an important food source for forest birds, particularly when other fruits are scarce. The flowers are sweetly scented and attract bees and other insects. The tree is named for its red bark and stems, which resemble the colour of red wine.
Habitat
The Wineberry grows in lowland and montane forests throughout New Zealand, from Northland to Stewart Island. It is a tree of the edges, the gaps, the clearings. It is often found along stream banks, on slip faces, and in regenerating bush where the light is bright and the competition is fierce. It is a pioneer, a coloniser, a tree that takes advantage of disturbance.
Range
New Zealand - found throughout the North and South Islands, Stewart Island, and the Chatham Islands in lowland and montane forests. Most common in regenerating bush, forest margins, along stream banks, and on slip faces, from sea level to 800 metres elevation, from Northland to Stewart Island.
Endemism
Endemic
Main Threats
None significant - this species is common in regenerating bush and along forest margins throughout the country. It is a fast-growing pioneer that is often one of the first trees to colonise a clearing or a slip. It faces no major threats and is also a popular garden tree, valued for its attractive red bark and berries.
Population
Not Threatened. The Wineberry is common in regenerating bush and along forest margins throughout the country. It is a fast-growing pioneer that is often one of the first trees to colonise a clearing or a slip. It is not rare. It is just a tree that knows how to take advantage of an opportunity.
Conservation Status
Not Threatened
The Wineberry is the soft one, the fast one, the tree that looks like it is in a hurry. Its leaves are large, soft, and deeply toothed – like the leaves of a grape vine or a maple. They are bright green on top and paler underneath, and they are arranged opposite each other along the branch. The leaves are not tough like the rātā or leathery like the karo. They are soft, almost floppy, and they catch the light. What makes it special? The speed. The Wineberry is one of the fastest-growing native trees in New Zealand. It can put on two or three metres of height in a year when it is young, racing towards the light. It is a pioneer, a coloniser, a tree that takes advantage of disturbance. When a slip clears a hillside or a tree falls in the forest, the Wineberry is often the first to appear. Its seeds are carried by birds, dropped in the open gap, and they germinate quickly in the bright light. The flowers are another clue. The Wineberry produces clusters of small, pinkish-red flowers in spring. They are not large – each flower is maybe a centimetre across – but they are produced in profusion, and they are heavily scented. The flowers are a magnet for insects – bees, flies, beetles – which are the tree's primary pollinators. The fruit is a small, dark red or black berry, about the size of a pea. The berries are produced in abundance in summer and are a favourite food of the kererū, the tūī, and the bellbird. The birds eat the berries, digest the flesh, and carry the seeds to new locations. The Wineberry is a tree that depends on its feathered gardeners. The leaves of the Wineberry have another secret. When they are crushed, they smell like green apples – a fresh, sweet scent that is surprisingly strong. Rub a leaf between your fingers and you will smell it. The tree is sometimes called "New Zealand currant" because of its fruit, but "wineberry" is the common name that stuck. The wood of the Wineberry is light, soft, and pinkish-brown. It was used by Māori for tools, for the handles of adzes, for the frames of houses. It is not a strong wood, but it is easy to work. The tree is too small and too scattered to be commercially valuable. Biologically, the Wineberry is a short-lived tree. It grows fast, lives fast, and dies young. A Wineberry might live for 50 or 60 years – a blink of an eye in the forest. It races towards the light, produces its flowers and fruit, and then fades away as the slower giants – the rimu, the tōtara, the kahikatea – overtop it. It is a tree of the moment, a tree of the gap, a tree that lives in the fast lane. To stand under a Wineberry in fruit is to stand under a tree of dark berries. The leaves are soft, the branches are low, the fruit is hanging in clusters. The birds are feeding, the insects are buzzing, the leaves are smelling of green apples. It is a tree of the edge, the gap, the place where the forest is healing. The Wineberry is not a king. It is not a warrior. It is the pioneer, the fast one, the tree of the gap. It has been here for millennia. It will be here as long as there are gaps to fill.