Today I read a short newspaper article about our native fuchsia written by the Native Collection Curator of the Dunedin Botanic Garden, Kate Caldwell. It starts with “Did you know that the largest fuchsia in the world is native to New Zealand?”. I have one or two photos of our native fuchsia waiting to be posted so this seems as good a time as any! There are few NZ deciduous trees and fuchsia are one of the few. They’re just starting to flower and leaf up now.
In the photo above, taken at Larnach Castle Garden on 27 Aug, there are two deciduous trees in the centre of the image. The front tree with a darker trunk is an acer (maple). Directly behind it is a native New Zealand fuchsia (Fuchsia excorticata) or kotukutuku in Maori. The photo below is closer – the fuchsia is the back tree with the lighter-coloured trunk.
Looking up into the branches from below. There’s a few flowers but they’re very small and I couldn’t get close. In the newspaper article you can see a very close-up photo of a flower.
The native fuchsia has beautiful papery, peeling bark (above and below).
All photos on this post taken at Larnach Castle Garden, Dunedin, New Zealand on Sunday 27 August 2017.
Text and photos by Exploring Colour (2017)
Exploring Colour 