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New Zealand’s Christmas tree, the pōhutukawa, is beginning to bloom, reminding us that Santa is on his way.
The bristly red flowers of Metrosideros excelsa are a familiar sight along the Kiwi shores, but their yellow-flowered cousin, a variant called “aurea,” is also beginning to bloom.
Yellow pōhutukawa are much less common than giant red natives, but just as bright.
Caroline Williams / Stuff
New Zealand’s beloved pōhutukawa and her rare yellow cousin are beginning to bloom, just in time for Christmas.
The first two yellow pōhutukawa trees are believed to have been discovered in 1940 on Motiti Island, an island of about 10 square kilometers, about 21 kilometers northeast of Tauranga.
READ MORE:
* How to grow your own pōhutukawa trees
* Why some pōhutukawa flourish more than others
* Red, white and yellow: the colors of Christmas.
The first trees went on sale at Duncan and Davies Nursery in 1947, according to the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture.
In a letter published in the New Zealand Garden Magazine in 1968, horticulturist and nursery founder Victor Davies said he was given six cuttings per hapu to propagate.
But six years later, the trees only produced red flowers.
The hapu refused to give Davies any more plant material as the trees were considered tapu (sacred), so he “hired the services of a Maori” who went to the island and got another 12 cuttings, six of which produced flowers. yellow
LAWRENCE SMITH / Things
Yellow pōhutukawa trees are much less common than the red pōhutukawa trees that dominate the shores of New Zealand.
The seeds of these trees continued to produce thousands of yellow pōhutukawa trees, which were named metrosideros excelsa aurea, with aurea meaning “golden” in Latin.
Yellow pōhutukawa trees have reportedly become established in Auckland, Taranaki, and Christchurch areas.
LAWRENCE SMITH / Things
The yellow pōhutukawa is believed to have originated in the Bay of Plenty, but can now be found in Auckland, including at Stafford Park in Northcote.
John Sims, from the Tawa Road Native Nursery in Kumeu, has been growing pōhutukawa since 2014 from seeds collected at Coromandel.
It was during a trip from Thames, through the Coromandel and to Whitianga, that Sims saw about 17 yellow pōhutukawa trees among thousands of red ones.
Supplied
Tawa Road native nursery owner John Sims and his friend Andreas Noeres (pictured) collected yellow seeds from pōhutukawa trees during a trip through Coromandel in 2014.
“They are beautiful, they are different.
“You can’t beat the big beautiful pōhutukawa trees on the beach on a summer day.”
The Sims had to wait about three years for the first batch of trees to bloom to see if they had red or yellow flowers.
Caroline Williams / Stuff
Yellow pōhutukawa trees bloom in Long Bay Regional Park on Auckland’s north shore.
Now you think it’s a perfect 50/50 split.
Of his inventory of about 400 trees grown from their original yellow pōhutukawa seeds, around 100 bloom each year.
The 50+ yellows generally sell out in about a week.
LAWRENCE SMITH
Yellow pōhutukawa trees are understood to produce offspring of red and yellow flowers on a 50/50 basis.
“Everybody goes crazy for them.”
He also sells some that have yet to flourish as “a lucky bath.”
“It could be red or yellow.”
Some of the buyers have a story, Sims said. This year, a pregnant woman bought one to plant when her baby is born.
Another wanted to plant a tree in memory of someone who had died.
Sims said he sells the red and yellow trees for $ 35 and $ 40 respectively, to cover the cost of his labor and materials.
“It is a labor of love. It’s a passion, ”he said.
