Most of New Zealand's native trees are evergreen and have insignificant flowers. But the kowhai and
pohutukawa trees punctuate the bush with their brilliant displays of colourful yellow and crimson blooms in spring and summer.
Kowhai (Sophora microphylla and Sophora tetraptera)
The kowhai is a small native tree, of the Leguminosae (pea family). It grows up to 12 meters high throughout New Zealand. Mostly it grows in the wild, but some plant nurseries sell small specimens for home gardens. These are usually the S.microphylla ones which have smaller leaves and flowers than the S. tetraptera.
The seeds are dark yellow and very hard. Each is enclosed in an individual dark brown pod that joins with others to make long strands of seeds.
The leaves can have up to 20 pairs of oval-shaped leaflets growing in one frond. They are a pale to mid-green colour.
'Kowhai' is the Maori word for 'yellow' and the kowhai tree certainly lives up to its name in October each year. Long sprays of brilliantly golden, pendulous flowers hang in clusters from the branches. The flowers have a long keel and shorter wings.
The spring flowering season is short, only 3 to 4 weeks long. During that time the trees are very visible in the bush because of their bright yellow blooms.
Of particular note are the kowhai trees around the town of Warkworth, north of Auckland. The town celebrates the flower each October with a Kowhai Festival of art, music, food, and markets, culminating in a Fun Day Out with entertainment for all the family.
Pohutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa)
Pohutukawa trees are coastal trees, a familiar sight on the cliffs, islands and beaches around eastern and northern New Zealand. They grow to an enormous size, with many branches spreading out from a central thick trunk. Some of the large branches may grow horizontally.
The root systems can cover a wide area, anchoring the trees to the cliff faces, and are often exposed. They play a significant role in preventing soil erosion.
The pohutukawa's leaves are pointed and glossy on top from a coating of wax that protects them in their salt air environment. They are a dull mid-green colour and are quite thick, not easily bent.
Because the pohutukawa flowers over December and January it is known as 'New Zealand's Christmas tree'. The blooms are a deep, rich crimson with gold tips on the stamens. The trees are covered in dense masses of flowers each summer.
An iconic Kiwi Christmas Day is to have a barbecue lunch on a beach in the shade of a flowering pohutukawa!
The pohutukawa flower features as a motif on many New Zealand souvenirs. Auckland City Council has adopted a stylised pohutukawa flower as its logo.
The Coromandel Peninsula markets itself as the Pohutukawa Coast with several 'Crimson Walks' that pass magnificent stands of pohutukawa trees that are hundreds of years old.
At Waitangi pohutukawa trees have been successively planted on either side of the Treaty House to honour royalty and the country's governors-general. The first was planted in 1935 to mark the silver jubilee of King George V.
Project Crimson is a conservation scheme that promotes the planting of these trees around the coastline. Pohutukawa trees are raised from seed by volunteers and, when they have grown to the sapling stage, are given away free for people to plant on their coastal properties and on public land. Many hundreds are planted each year to replace those lost to storms, being eaten by possums or damaged by humans.
The yellow flowers of the kowhai and the scarlet of the pohutukawa make these instantly recognisable as New Zealand's most colourful native trees.
Sources:
- Salmon,J. The Reed Field Guide to New Zealand Native Trees Reed, Auckland, 1986
- Simpson,P. Pohutukawa and Rata Te Papa Press, Wellington, 2005
- www.projectcrimson.org.nz
Wendy Craig - Wendy is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in newspapers, magazines, anthologies and travel books in New Zealand and U.K.
