Hoheria populnea

Take a walk behind the glasshouses to appreciate a late flowering wild collected Hoheria from North Island New Zealand. Naturally a variable species which has resulted in several cultivars obtainable in the trade. This specimen was collected in the summit area of Mt. Donald McLean within the Tamaki Ecological Region, North Island. Hoheria populnea has rigid evergreen leaves of a chlorotic green. Their beauty is in the good vein structure, deep green above and below a drought induced, cracked earth appearance in a silvery hue. The flowers are borne on short stalks individually or in groups in the leaf axils of the current season’s growth, opening from a globular bud encased in a crown of sepals to a flat face of petals with a profusion of anthers. Once open the triangular shape of the sepals is more evident as they reflex back at this stage.

Ideally planted in this sheltered location this tender species has made good growth in a decade. The older bark on the trunk is infused with lenticels giving weight to the common name “Lacebark”.