Re: New Zealand Flora

Chris Clarke wrote:
> 
> > .... Great stuff about NZ removed.
> 
> Do you have large Fuscha plants in NZ, like in Chile?

Hi Chris, 
Yes we do have some Fuchsias, and like so many NZ plants they are rather
unusual. F excortica is a real giant of its kind and is apparently the
largest Fuchsia in the world, capable of growing up to 12 metres tall.
Though it has attractive flowers with unusual blue pollen, they are
rather small and the tree is mainly admired for its wonderful
pinkish-brown bark which peels off in long strips, so the trunk has a
distinctly shaggy appearence. It is bird-pollinated and is one of our
very few deciduous species. The berries, quite ordinary Fuchsia type,
have been use for jam.

Our other common Fuchsia (F procumbens), quite often seen in gardens, is
down the other end of the scale and is a small creeping plant with its
flowers facing upwards and also ahving blue pollen. It is also deciduous
and after the little round leaves are shed the berries can be seen and
last throughout the winter. These are as large as a cherry and a rich
bright reddish pink - very showy!

Moira
-- 
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata, 
New Zealand (astride the "Ring of Fire" in the SW Pacific).
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index