''Clianthus maximus'', commonly known as kaka beak ( 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 Co ...

), is a woody

legume Legumes are plants in the pea family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seeds of such plants. When used as a dry grain for human consumption, the seeds are also called pulses. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consum ...

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

native to

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...

. It is one of two species of ''

Clianthus ''Clianthus'', commonly known as kaka beak (''kōwhai ngutukākā'' in Māori), is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family Fabaceae, comprising two species of shrubs endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. They have striking cluste ...

'' (kaka beak) and both have striking clusters of red flowers which resemble the beak of the

kaka Kaka may refer to: People Nickname or given name Sports * Kaká (born 1982), Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, Brazilian football attacking midfielder * Kaká (futsal player) (born 1987), Carlos Augusto dos Santos da Silva, Italian futsal pivot * ...

, 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 () is a region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region is named for Hawke Bay, which was named in honour of Edward Hawke. The region's main centres are the cities of Napier and Hastings, while the more rural ...

regions.Wild kaka beak close to extinction
, New Zealand Biodiversity, 23 December 2005. Retrieved 28 July 2008. In 2023, the plant was voted New Zealand's favourite plant of the year in a competition run by the

New Zealand Plant Conservation Network The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network (NZPCN) is a non-governmental organisation devoted to the protection and restoration of New Zealand's indigenous plant life, including vascular plants, mosses, liverworts, hornworts and lichens. Descr ...

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. The flowers hang in clusters of 15–20 blooms. The leaves are fern-like, with 15–30 pairs of evenly spaced glossy dark green leaflets. The stems are a soft wood and are easily broken. A single parent plant can cover a larger area, as it's long, trailing stems can form new plants when they reach the soil. It is short-lived, lasting only 15–20 years. It produces a green pea-like pod that will split when ripe to release it's small and hard seeds, which are wind dispersed. The seeds are long-lived, and may still be viable after 30 years. They

germinate Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an flowering plant, angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the sp ...

in response to light gaps, enabling the plant to survive in semi-open environments. As ''C. maximus'' is a member of the pea family, it can perform

nitrogen fixation Nitrogen fixation is a chemical process by which molecular dinitrogen () is converted into ammonia (). It occurs both biologically and abiological nitrogen fixation, abiologically in chemical industry, chemical industries. Biological nitrogen ...

Taxonomy

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 acco ...

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.

Conservation status

''C. maximus'' has been classed as Nationally Critical since 2009. There are only 153 confirmed trees in the wild, and their sites in the East Coast and northern

regions are threatened by a range of factors (including browsing animals, disease, fire, and erosion).

References

External links

''Clianthus maximus'' Colenso (1885)
Ngā Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plant Names Database. Landcare Research, New Zealand. {{Taxonbar, from=Q5132364 Galegeae Trees of New Zealand Endangered flora of New Zealand Plants described in 1885 Taxa named by William Colenso