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Pōhutukawa trees
2007.01.01
The tree grows up to twenty metres in height, with a dome-like spreading form. Its natural range is the coastal regions of the North Island of New Zealand, north of a line stretching from New Plymouth to Gisborne. It also grows on the shores of lakes in the Rotorua area. A giant PÅhutukawa at Te Araroa on the East Coast is reputed to be the largest in the country, with a height of 20 metres and a spread of 38 metres.[1] The tree is renowned as a cliff-dweller, able to maintain a hold in precarious, near-vertical situations. Some specimens have matted, fibrous aerial roots. Like its Hawaiian relative the Ê»ÅhiÊ»a lehua (M. polymorpha), the PÅhutukawa has shown itself to be efficient in the colonisation of lava fields, notably on Rangitoto Island, a volcano in Auckland Harbour.
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The tree grows up to twenty metres in height, with a dome-like spreading form. Its natural range is the coastal regions of the North Island of New Zealand, north of a line stretching from New Plymouth to Gisborne. It also grows on the shores of lakes in the Rotorua area. A giant Pōhutukawa at Te Araroa on the East Coast is reputed to be the largest in the country, with a height of 20 metres and a spread of 38 metres.[1] The tree is renowned as a cliff-dweller, able to maintain a hold in precarious, near-vertical situations. Some specimens have matted, fibrous aerial roots. Like its Hawaiian relative the ʻŌhiʻa lehua (M. polymorpha), the Pōhutukawa has shown itself to be efficient in the colonisation of lava fields, notably on Rangitoto Island, a volcano in Auckland Harbour.
The Pōhutukawa flowers from November to January with a peak in mid to late December (the southern hemisphere summer), with brilliant crimson flowers covering the tree, hence the nickname New Zealand Christmas Tree. There is variation between individual trees in the timing of flowering, and in the shade and brightness of the flowers. In isolated populations genetic drift has resulted in local variation: many of the trees growing around the Rotorua lakes produce pink-shaded flowers, and the yellow-flowered cultivar "Aurea" descends from a pair discovered in 1940 on Mōtiti Island in the Bay of Plenty.
