Clianthus maximus

Clianthus maximus, commonly known as kaka beak (kōwhai ngutu-kākā in Māori), is a woody legume shrub native to New Zealand's North Island. It is one of two species of Clianthus (kaka beak) and both have striking clusters of red flowers which resemble the beak of the kaka, a New Zealand parrot.

Clianthus maximus

Nationally Critical (NZ TCS)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Genus: Clianthus
Species:
C. maximus
Binomial name
Clianthus maximus

The species is endangered in the wild, with only 153 trees found in a 2005 survey (down from over 1000 in 1996), in the East Coast and northern Hawkes Bay regions.[2]

Description

C. maximus is a small woody shrub which grows to 1.5–6 metres high. It has glossy green leaves and dark scarlet flowers which appear between August and December. These hang in clusters of 15-20 blooms. The stems are a soft wood and are easily broken.[3][4]

William Colenso described C. maximus in 1885, identifying it as distinct from C. puniceus, the other kaka beak. However Thomas Kirk reduced C. maximus to a variety of C. puniceus (C. puniceus var. maximus) in 1899. Peter Heenan reinstated C. maximus as a separate species in 2000.[5]

In cultivation

Prior to the 1990s, C. maximus was rarely cultivated, most stock available for cultivation being C. puniceus (then C. puniceus var. puniceus). C. maximus is now widely available in garden shops in New Zealand, however.[3]

References
  1. de Lange (1998). Clianthus puniceus. 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2007. Retrieved on 30 July 2008. Listed as Endangered (EN D v2.3). This pre-2000 entry refers to C. puniceus sensu lato.
  2. Wild kaka beak close to extinction, New Zealand Biodiversity, 23 December 2005. Retrieved 28 July 2008.
  3. "Clianthus maximus". New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. Retrieved 28 July 2008.
  4. "Kākābeak/ngutukākā". www.doc.govt.nz. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  5. Heenan, P.B. (2000). "Clianthus (Fabaceae) in New Zealand: a reappraisal of Colenso's taxonomy" (PDF). New Zealand Journal of Botany. 38 (3): 361–371. doi:10.1080/0028825x.2000.9512688. ISSN 0028-825X. S2CID 84497558. Retrieved 14 November 2010.


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