Page updated 16 Jan 1997
Scientific species name: Knightia excelsa
Knightia named after the botanist Thomas Knight who was once President of the London Horticultural Society (5)(7) ; excelsa (Latin) referring to the fact that rewarewa is lofty or high
Family: Rewarewa belongs to the moderately sized family of Proteaceae which occurs mainly in Australia and South Africa. There are only 3 species of Knightia, two in New Caledonia and one in New Zealand
Maori name (s): Rewarewa
Common name(s): New Zealand honeysuckle, 'the bucket of water tree' (see uses below), or the New Zealand bottlebrush.
Description: The rewarewa is a tall tree (up to 30 m tall) with a trunk up to 1 m in diameter. The leathery leaves are long and look rather like doubly toothed bread knives (teeth on both edges).
The flowers are fascinating (more about those later) and occur from October to November in Auckland. The fruit is a woody capsule that splits open to release winged seeds that helicopter down to the ground. Rather surprisingly (to me anyway) possums at Loch Amber, near Wenderholm, absolutely love rewarewa seed. Most of the woody capsules are chewed to bits long before the seed is ripe.
The immature flowers are spiky dark red velvet brushes, they look quite artificial really. Each spike is a long narrow flowerbud and the brush is made up of many flowers (from 15 to 80 flowers).
When the flower opens the spike splits into four narrow petals that curl tightly in to little coils (2) at the base of the flower. The only thing left sticking out is the yellow pistil (the female part of the flower that must be pollinated) so that it looks like a floral pincushion(1) with yellow pins. It is easy to see if the rewarewa flowers are open, if you can see the yellow pistils then the flowers are open.
Have a look at these flowers if you get the chance, they are really neat. Can you spot where the pollen is hidden? (Send me an email if you can). The pollen is tucked away somewhere so that the flower can't pollinate itself, not only that, but when the pollen is ripe the stigma, at the top of the pistil, is still immature and not ready to receive pollen yet. (3) Rewarewa flowers also have a quite sweet smell.
The nectar that birds, such as tuis and bellbirds, find so attractive is produced by four glands at the base of the pistil. I've noticed that tuis only feed on recently opened flowers. Insects don't seem to be quite so fussy.
Distribution: Rewarewa is found throughout the North Island, mainly in lowland and montane (lower part of mountains) forests and in the Marlborough Sounds of the South Island. (1)
Uses: Old and wise maori point out that that rewerewa seedpod is the model for maori canoes, right down to the figureheadThe red speckled timber is beautifully figured and still very popular for inlay and other ornamental woodwork. (1) Apparently rewarewa is sometimes also known as the 'bucket of water tree' because the wood is too wet to use for firewood. (4)
The inner part of the bark was bandaged over a wound to check bleeding and to help heal it. (6)
References:
(1) Allison Evans & Stephen Barnett (1987) New Zealand in flower.
(2) Marguerite Crookes (1926) Plant life in Maoriland. A botanist's note book.
(3) Audrey Eagle (1978) Eagle's 100 trees of New Zealand.
(4) W. Martin (date?, third edition) The flora of New Zealand.
(5) J.W. Matthews (1951) New Zealand trees.
(6) S.G. Brooker, R.C. Cambie & R.C. Cooper (1987) New Zealand medicinal plants.
(7) Muriel Fisher, E. Satchell & Janet Watkins (1985) Gardening with New Zealand plants, shrubs & trees.
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