kākābeak or ngutukākā
Out walking the other day, in an overgrown front garden I saw these kākābeak blooms. It never ceases to amaze me that I can simply wander around Wellington city and find such absolute beauty.
NZ's Dept. of Conservation reports:
Ngutukākā is named for its beautiful red flowers, which hang in clusters of 15-20 blooms and are shaped liked kākā's a beak (ngutu meaning beak/lips and kākā being the large native parrot of the same name).
The plant ngutukākā is found only in New Zealand and is nationally critical meaning it is most severely threatened, facing an immediate high risk of extinction in the wild.
Being a member of the pea family, Ngutukākā can fix nitrogen, enabling it to grow in infertile sites. Plants can grow up to 2-3m tall, producing long, trailing stems that form new plants when they come into contact with the soil. In this way, one parent plant can cover a large area.
Ngutukākā has a long-lived seed which may still be able to germinate after 30 years, creating a seed bank that holds many seeds ready to germinate when conditions suit. This enables it to grow in shrubland which is not permanently open but is frequently disturbed. The seeds wait for light gaps to appear, e.g. following a tree-fall or a slip, and then germinate in response.
References:
https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native-plants/kakabeak/
And take a look at this link for gorgeous kākā pics: https://www.doc.govt.nz/kaka
NZ's Dept. of Conservation reports:
Ngutukākā is named for its beautiful red flowers, which hang in clusters of 15-20 blooms and are shaped liked kākā's a beak (ngutu meaning beak/lips and kākā being the large native parrot of the same name).
The plant ngutukākā is found only in New Zealand and is nationally critical meaning it is most severely threatened, facing an immediate high risk of extinction in the wild.
Being a member of the pea family, Ngutukākā can fix nitrogen, enabling it to grow in infertile sites. Plants can grow up to 2-3m tall, producing long, trailing stems that form new plants when they come into contact with the soil. In this way, one parent plant can cover a large area.
Ngutukākā has a long-lived seed which may still be able to germinate after 30 years, creating a seed bank that holds many seeds ready to germinate when conditions suit. This enables it to grow in shrubland which is not permanently open but is frequently disturbed. The seeds wait for light gaps to appear, e.g. following a tree-fall or a slip, and then germinate in response.
References:
https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native-plants/kakabeak/
And take a look at this link for gorgeous kākā pics: https://www.doc.govt.nz/kaka
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