Karaka Botanical Print

NZ Botanical Print

Image size in millimetres: 265 x 310mm (printed with a white border on an A3 sheet)

Botanists used drawings of plants to identify the species. This circa 1885 watercolour by NZ artist Sarah Featon would have been used by scientists to identify Corynocarpus laevigatus, the Karaka tree. Now a popular garden tree, Karaka trees grow in coastal and lowland forest. In summer they bear heavy loads of orange berries. Within each berry is a seed containing a lethal toxin known as karakin. Māori discovered that they could make karaka berries safe for eating by first baking them, and then soaking them in water. This modern re-print of the original botanical drawing is printed in NZ on fine Italian Tintoretto paper stock.