Clianthus, veiled in mystery John Clemens

Introduction described a second , The Royal New Zealand Institute of maximus. Horticulture made the award of the Peter Skellerup Conservation Diversity in Clianthus Scholarship and Medal in support of Colenso recognised Clianthus the research we are conducting on puniceus as a 'truly handsome' plant, genetic diversity in Clianthus. Efforts but one that was remarkable for its have been further advanced by variety as well as for its beauty. While support from the Public Good Science we have a range of Clianthus Fund through a subcontract to Crop available to us, Colenso was talking & Food Research under the Native about the variety he observed in the Ornamental programme. The wild. As to the morphological diversity more we discover of the remaining within Clianthus, Colenso hints that Clianthus diversity, the more we and the plants associated with Maori others want to know about the villages on the Hick's Bay-Poverty cultivation of this plant when the early Bay coast between 1838-1843 were European botanists arrived, and in the the same or similar to those with preceding centuries. Yet, this cultural which he was very familiar growing in information appears only sparingly in Northland. However, when he moved the literature, and would appear to further south to live permanently in have been lost from the collective Hawke's Bay in 1844, he grew Clianthus maximus, with from memory. As an introduction to our Clianthus from a local source in his two or more inflorescences at various work, I will briefly review the diversity garden, and was surprised to see how stages of opening against the glossy, of Clianthus and its cultivation as seen much it differed from the Northland dark green leaves by early European observers. plants. Clianthus plants of this new form were also to be found growing he believed that he had never seen it in other parts of Hawke's Bay. growing commonly and truly in the ... where he noticed Specimens were sent to Kew in the 1840s, but Hooker “could not detect wild. Possible exceptions were on a and described a second any material difference” between the few, small islands in the Bay of Islands. species, Clianthus two forms. In 1885, Colenso spoke Although botanical specimens were of the differences between the first collected by Solander and Banks maximus. Northern and the Southern Clianthus. in 1769, the plant was probably not He said he was not concerned as to seen by other eminent collectors whether or not these were different during later expeditions. In fact, forms of , or Colenso's fascination Colenso speculated that had it not William Colenso read his talk entitled different enough to be classified as been for the efforts of European 'On Clianthus puniceus Sol.' to the distinct species. However, he bluntly Hawke's Bay Philosophical Institute stated that “the two forms exist”. After botanists and gardeners working on 14 December 1885. Described a little over 100 years, in which the within New Zealand and “at Home”, and given the name Clianthus two forms had languished as C. the plant would have become extinct puniceus by Daniel Solander, the plant puniceus var. puniceus, and C. by the time he gave his talk in 1885. locally known as kowhai ngutukaka puniceus var. maximus, these have However, this plant managed to or kaka beak had fascinated Colenso been recognised by Peter Heenan of survive the centuries before since his first encounter with it 50 Landcare Research as the distinct European gardeners were on years earlier in the Bay of Islands. species C. puniceus (G. Don) Sol. ex hand, as he saw it, to rescue this This species had an unusual Lindl. and C. maximus Colenso. plant from extinction. This suggests distribution, occurring around and that, although Clianthus might have about sites of Maori habitation, while Cultivation of Clianthus: been rare in the wild, it had long been being comparative rare in the wild. to eat or for ornament? successfully cultivated by Maori This fascination gained extra impetus The Clianthus was described before it was catalogued by Banks when Colenso later moved to live in as being veiled in mystery by Colenso and Solander. Therefore, Hawke's Bay where he noticed and because, unlike other native species, Colenso saw Clianthus as

PG 4 Clianthus, veiled in mystery belonging to the suite of horticultural Acknowledgement crops grown by Maori, which he Our work is partly supported by the Public Good Science Fund, Native named as various sorts of taro Ornamental Plants Programme, under subcontract C02626 to the New Zealand (Colocasia) and kumara (Ipomaea Institute for Crop & Food Research Ltd. chrysorhiza), the paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera), the striped References New Zealand flax (Phormium colensoi), and the tipara or broad- Colenso W (1885). On Clianthus puniceus, Sol. Transactions and Proceedings leaved cabbage (Cordyline sp.). of the New Zealand Institute 18, 291-295. The gardening of these and other Heenan PB (2000). Clianthus () in New Zealand: a reappraisal of crops, e.g. gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) Colenso's . New Zealand Journal of Botany 38, 361-371. and yam (Dioscorea elata), before and Leach H (1984). A thousand years of gardening in New Zealand. Reed: during the time of early European Wellington. settlement is described in great detail Taylor R (1855). Te Ika a Maui. New Zealand and its inhabitants. Wertheim and by Helen Leach (1984), although there Macintosh: London. is no mention of Clianthus in the catalogue of crops. Until recently, I had regarded the cultivation of Clianthus as having a cultural significance of which I was A chronology of kaka beak naming, based on the unaware. Taylor (1855) commented descriptions of Colenso (1885) and Heenan (2000) that Clianthus flowers were worn as adornments, suggesting a purely ornamental use. While this might well have been the case, a thread of 1769 anecdotal evidence suggests that First specimens collected by Solander and Banks and referred to as Clianthus was cultivated as a food Clianthus puniceus plant, the green pods being eaten as if they were snow peas. Any 1832 information readers might like to pass Using the herbarium specimens of Solander and Banks, George Don on to do with the cultivation of renames the plant after his father (also George Don): Donia punicea G. Clianthus, whether for ornament, food Don or some other purpose, would be most welcome. 1835 Conclusion Publication of Dr Lindley's restoration of the name Clianthus puniceus We have discovered a pattern to the distribution of the different genotypes 1844 within the species C. maximus in the William Colenso moves to Hawke's Bay, discovers a different Clianthus East Cape to Hawke's Bay area, and species and refers to it as C. maximus a link between these genotypes and the sole survivors of the once widespread C. puniceus. We will 1847 report on these findings in the near Colenso supplies specimens of the possible new species to Sir WJ future. In the meantime, we would like Hooker at Kew, whose team examines the specimens to hand and finds to hear about traditional kowhai no material difference between the two forms ngutukaka cultivation methods and uses. 1899 Kirk in his Students' flora of New Zealand, reduces C. maximus to a variety of C. puniceus

2000 In a reappraisal of Colenso's taxonomy, Peter Heenan (Landcare Research, Lincoln) reinstates Clianthus maximus Colenso to species rank, alongside Clianthus puniceus (G. Don) Sol. ex Lindl.

Clianthus, veiled in mystery PG 5