Adult foliage

The Horoeka was long known to me by the name given it by settlers; lancewood. I knew it as a small tree with long dry leaves, hence the name. What I didn't know until many years late is that the adult Horoeka has very different leaves; shown in today's blip.

This tree is perhaps 7 - 8 m tall, and is beside the drive into our property. At ground level the trunk of this Horoeka is no more than 20 mm in diameter. During the juvenile phase the tree puts its energy into growing tall and thin so as to compete for light with the forest giants, at the sub-canopy level. It grows leaves with a broader surface as shown in my photo.

The extra is another photo of the duck with four ducklings which were featured in a blip last week. The duck showed no particular energy in crossing the road. The ducks in this area do tend to behave as if they know that the cars will stop for them, and show no reaction when crossing the road.