About NZ Matagouri

Discaria toumatou, commonly called matagouri, tumatakuru or wild Irishman, is a tangle-branched thorny plant endemic to New Zealand.  Matagouri is an extremely thorny, divaricating shrub or small tree up to five metres tall.

The shrub was often a problem for early settlers in Central Otago and the eastern South Island.  Not only could its thorns inflict a painful wound, but it inhibited the growth of pasture. The word matagouri is a corruption of the shrub's Maori name, tumatakuru.