 The bark is usually brown or grey-brown and rather corky and provides an ideal stratum for the roots of epiphytic plants such as "Astelia" species and Freycinetia banksii (kiekie).The wood is reddish brown, and the manner of its growth results in a twisted grain.Northern rātā often begins life as hemi-epiphyte, and the resultant tree has a hollow trunk up to 4 m in diameter made up of interlocking roots which enclose the space left by the former host tree.