Discovering a New Native Tree

It's always fun for John and me to discover something new at Struan Farm, something we haven't noticed or known about previously. 

We stumbled upon a native tree with these interesting burgundy clusters down at the pond recently when installing the wooden bird sculptures. It's Pseudopanax, or Five Fingers. The clusters (I'm sure they have a more technical name) will flower and eventually grow into berries enjoyed by the tuis. The "Five Fingers" refers to the serrated leaves (oops only three in the photo below). 

I'm now going to watch these clusters as they change to see what happens. And no comments about watching the grass grow, paint dry, etc. etc. This could be interesting, really!