thankyou to www.bushmansfriend.co.nz for this photo
Description: Broom like shrub or tree to 10m tall. Bark brown, thin, shedding in long strips. Branchlets and leaves silky hairy when young. Leaves glabrous, coriaceous , stiff and acute, 4-12 x 1-4 mm, dotted with oil glands which give a distinctive gingery peppery smell. Flowers generally hermaphrodite, sometimes unisexual, solitary. Sepals and petals five, commonly white but sometimes flushed pink, 12 mm diam. Capsules 5-valved, 6-7 mm diam., woody, long lasting. Sometimes flowering when only a few cm tall (ref: Eagle’s Complete Trees and Shrubs of New Zealand vol. 1 p.232)
How to distinguish Manuka from:
Kanuka:is softer to touch in adult forms, seed capsules are different, Kanuka bark is lighter, kanuka can grow to 30m.
Mingimingi: does not have the same smell as Manuka & Kanuka, flowers are much smaller and not solitary, has fleshy drupes rather than woody capsules.
Where to find Manuka: Mountains, seashore, swamps, dry land, rocky cliffs, poor soils, disturbed sites