Kunzea ericoides, commonly known as kānuka, kanuka, or white tea-tree, is a tree or shrub in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to New Zealand.

Kunzea ericoides is a spreading shrub or tree, sometimes growing to a height of 18 m (60 ft) with bark which peels in long strips and young branches which tend to droop.

The flowers are white or pale pink, crowded on side branches or in the axils of upper leaves.

[3][4] Kānuka was first formally described in 1832 by the French botanist Achille Richard who gave it the name Leptospermum ericoides from a specimen he collected in New Zealand.

[10] The taxonomic revision of the Kunzea ericoides complex identified ten species endemic to New Zealand, seven of which were new at this time.

Kānuka often colonizes land recovering after a fire and is a critical part of the natural recovery of agricultural areas and open disturbed ground to forest.

Kākāriki parakeets (Cyanoramphus) use the leaves and bark of kānuka and the related mānuka tea trees to rid themselves of parasites.

Typical associate understory species may include crown fern (Lomaria discolor) and Cyathodes fasciculata.