''Clianthus maximus'', commonly known as kaka beak (''kōwhai ngutu-kākā'' in

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

), is a woody legume shrub native to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

's North Island. It is one of two species of ''

Clianthus ''Clianthus'', commonly known as kakabeak (''kōwhai ngutukākā'' in Māori), is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family Fabaceae, comprising two species of shrubs native to New Zealand. They have striking clusters of red flowers whi ...

'' (kaka beak) and both have striking clusters of red flowers which resemble the beak of the kaka, a New Zealand parrot. 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 Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...

regions.Wild kaka beak close to extinction
New Zealand Biodiversity, 23 December 2005. Retrieved 28 July 2008.

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.

William Colenso William Colenso (17 November 1811 – 10 February 1899) FRS was a Cornish Christian missionary to New Zealand, and also a printer, botanist, explorer and politician. He attended the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and later wrote an accou ...

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.

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.

References

External links

''Clianthus maximus'' Colenso (1885)
Ngā Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plant Names Database. Landcare Research, New Zealand. Galegeae Trees of New Zealand Endangered flora of New Zealand Plants described in 1885 Taxa named by William Colenso {{NewZealand-plant-stub