Meryta sinclairii, the puka or pukanui, is a large-leaved evergreen tree endemic to New Zealand that grows to about 8 m tall, with the distinctly tropical appearance typical of the genus.

[4] The entire plant is more or less resinous, and the dark-brown bark has numerous warty excrescences and is easily wounded, producing large callosities as it heals.

[4] Puka first came to European attention when William Colenso found a single tree growing at the head of Whangaruru Bay in Northland (on the New Zealand mainland).

Colenso made frequent visits to Whangaruru Bay over several years in the vain hope of procuring flowers and fruit.

Later William Mair found the tree, and he eventually succeeded in procuring specimens of the leaves and fruit, which were forwarded to Dr Joseph Hooker at Kew.

[5] Kirk recorded in 1869 that puka was 'already established under cultivation', and today it is widely grown as a street tree and a garden specimen in northern New Zealand.

Puka is sensitive to frost – leaves will suffer damage if the temperature drops below −2 °C, although it has been grown as far south as Dunedin in protected situations.