≡ Menu

Manuka or kanuka?

It’s easy to tell manuka and kanuka apart when they’re flowering, but how do you tell when they’re not flowering? It’s all in the foliage. The flowers and pods in the centre of the photo mark the tree as manuka. Its leaves are smaller and firmer, spiky to the touch. The clump of leaves being held alongside the manuka flowers are from a nearby kanuka tree, and they’re much softer to the touch. Manuka leaves are prickly, you can’t really grab a clump of them in your fist comfortably.