Bushmansfriend

Phormium tenax cultivar 'Elfin'

The pattern of the unfurling leaves caught my eye on this flax cultivar. It is not something I have noticed on wild flax, however on this cultivar it makes for an attractive pattern. Does anyone know what this unfolding pattern is called?. Possibly plicate, which is a term more associated with longitudinal unfurling. Leave a comment.

leafless broom Charmichaelia australis

Our walking group found the seed capsule of the New Zealand leafless broom most fascinating. The sides of the capsule (replum) fall away as the leguminose pod drys in the late summer sun, revealing brightly coloured orange seeds, almost pirimidal in shape.

Scarlet Mistletoe Peraxilla colensoi

photo Liz Vanderlaarse

A parasitic shrub up to 3 m across. A parasite mainly found in silver beech forest but has been recorded on 19 species including red beech and black beech. Tui (Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae) and bellbird (Anthonis melanura) disperse this species in the North Island. In Peraxilla species, flower buds are unable to open themselves. The flowers reveal themselves only when the honeyeater bird finds a ripe bud and gives the top a twist; the bud then bursts open immediately like a spring, and the bird drinks the nectar inside.

Scarlet mistletoe produces scarlet flowers in abundance which make this plant very obvious from October - January. Flower heads have groups of 3-10 flowers and are up to 60 mm long. The ripe fruit are yellow/golden and are small, fleshy and oval.

Read about new research from QE2 trust on how birds affect pollination of mistle toe from here and more about the explosive method of bird pollination from here