Re: Pandanus relative.
- Subject: Re: Pandanus relative.
- From: T* &* M* R*
- Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2001 09:37:46 +1300
david feix wrote:
>
> Moira,
>
> I would be most interested in getting seed of your
> local Kieke/Freycinetia banksii, it looks like it
> could be an interesting vining plant here for the Bay
> Area's milder and wetter coastal areas. The photo of
> the plant in the new Cave and Paddison book, New
> Zealand Native Plants, shows a rather attractive
> foliage plant with a vague resemblance to a Podocarpus
> macrophyllus, except very much longer foliage.
Hi David
Your request suggests an interesting exercise for me -looking for Kiekie
flowers, because I must admit I have never seen one! From the pics in
Cave and Paddison they appear quite showy, but I gather they tend to
hide under the foliage. My flora says the bracts are edible with a
pleasent sweet flvour. Sounds like they would make an exotic addition to
your salads!
Well, I will be happy to look for them for you. Eagle's "Trees and
Shrubs of NZ" indicates October flowering and December ripening. I doubt
I shall have time to go down to the local Forest park and look for the
flowers this year (we are just about to go south to visit our daughter
in Dunedin), but we usually go there for picnics quite a lot in late
December over the holiday season, so I will have a try fro fruits then.
I do not however know what luck I will have as the fruits are apparently
popular with two pests - Possums and rats, so that may be why one
doesn't usually see them.
Whatever the picture may suggest, Kiekie really doesn't look at all like
a podocarp, but very like a whole lot of Astelias strung together. As I
already mentioned they are definitely not kind to live trees, being
quite a smothering as any ivy. If I grew one I should certainly provide
a non-living support. They can also grow on the ground or over fallen
logs, but I think than look pretty messy.
>
> This same book also shows flowers of the endemic
> Tecomanthe speciosa vine from the New Zealand Great
> Island in the Three Kings Group. My own vine is
> larger in stem diameter, and I hope that my plant may
> actually bloom this fall/winter. Do you know if this
> vine in habitat would have been exposed to salt spray?
> I wonder if this could be the missing ingredient to
> promote blooming. I understand that the original type
> plant is extinct in habitat, and do not know if it
> grew in immediate proximity to the sea and winds, or
> in more protected scrub/forest conditions. My
> impression is that it grew in very exposed coastal
> bluff conditions over low scrub and rock, without the
> protection of tree canopy?
As the island is pretty small and lies between the Hauraki Gulf and the
open Pacific I should say it is very well acquainted with seaspray! And
indeed one vine I know which flowers reliably is in a garden lying only
a hundred metres or so from the shores of Cook Strait where despite
efforts to provide shelter is subject to frequent strong winds coming in
from the sea. My impressiion though is that a main factor in flowering
is sufficient summer warmth, as other vines not all that far away in
Lower Hutt, with a slightly cooler climate have been slower to start
performing, even though growing vigorously. In any case it appears to be
long-lived and like many long-livers not in much hurry to "grow up".
I don't know where you got the idea the type specimen is extinct. As far
as I know it is still alive and in much better health since the Dept of
Conservation did away with all the goats which were causing havoc on the
local vegetation.
Cheers
Moira
--
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata, New Zealand, SW Pacific. 12 hours ahead of Greenwich Time
