Kakabeak – the parrot plant of springtime

 The distinctive parrot beak flower of the kakabeak

The kowhai ngutu-kaka or kakabeak (Clianthus puniceus) is one of New Zealand's brightest native flowers. A bush covered in flowers, as mine is at this time of year, really glows. (It also buzzes with bee visitors). Like the pohutukawa the kakabeak has bright red flowers and is native only to the northern parts of New Zealand, but there the similarities end. The kakabeak can tolerate much colder weather than the pohutakawa. One of the few wild populations left in New Zealand is on the hills above Lake Waikaremoana, where it snows most winters.

Despite being cold-hardy and able to grow in infertile soils the kakabeak is now almost extinct in the wild. This is because it is very palatable to browsing animals, which had almost cleaned it out by the end of the nineteenth century. Luckily, although the plant itself is shortlived (15-20 years), its seeds are very long lived. Even more luckily, it is such an attractive plant that humans have been propagating it and planting it near their houses for at least three centuries, if not longer.

As this plant is endemic to New Zealand it would be sad to see it die out in the wild. The Department of Conservation therefore has a programme of protecting the few known sites where there are good wild populations left by fencing them off. (Find out all about this and more about the kakabeak on DoC's webpage on the plant.)

The kakabeak, as its name suggests, has a flower shaped like the beak of one of our native parrots, the kaka. It is a member of the legume or pea family, and it has a close cousin in the floral emblem of South Australia, Sturt's Desert Pea, which looks just like a kakabeak except for a little black 'cap' on top of the red beak. The kakabeak bush in my garden, which has been there about ten years, is now well over two metres tall and the same wide. It starts flowering in August, keeps it up for at least two months, and draws lots of compliments from visitors impressed at its vigour and its gorgeous red flowers. There are also white and pink versions of the kakabeak, which are equally lovely. There are very few native plants which are more easily or better conserved in the home garden than the wild – how fortunate for us as well as the kakabeak that it fits this bill.

 Kakabeak bush in flower in the Eco Garden