Kotukutuku, Native Tree Fuchsia at Kaipatiki Creek
UPDATE 6 July 2019
A few flowers on Adult #1, those close enough to see were both blue...ie no nectar.
Adult #2 is still hanging onto the streambank in Zone Ca and now has lots of full-size leaves at the top....observation to follow.
The two surviving juveniles beside boardwalk and path in Zone Ca have healthy green leaves...sparse but on most branch tips.
A juvenile above Adult #1 was accidentally damaged during manual removal of moth plant, Tradescantia and gijnger, but its remaining branch is healthy.
Another one may have been seen - in a photo - at extreme streambank edge ,in Zone Bd, to be reobserved for confirmation but has the same branching pattern, thin brown trunk and branches, and the same pattern of tiny leaves at branch ends.
3 June 2019 Adult # 1 Flowering in pink and blue...
https://inaturalist.nz/observations/26160046
Adult #2 has a few more leaves- https://inaturalist.nz/observations/26162401
A fellow iNat member has provided this link to a study of flower colouring in Kotukutuku:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2409360?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
A juvenile c.2mH has been observed - right beside a boardwalk we have crossed frequently:)
https://inaturalist.nz/observations/26167550
and the yellow growth on it has been observed separately, hoping for an identification and possible cause of defoliation in it and maybe the other specimens
https://inaturalist.nz/observations/26167551
Two juveniles observed about 10 metres further down the path in Oct 2018 are no longer present.
https://inaturalist.nz/observations/17555734#activity_comment_2980141
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May 2019
In this post we will keep track of observations of the only two adult kotukutuku in the whole site, (Adult #1 and Adult #2) and the few juveniles and seedlings observed so far. The species is deciduous, at least in Southern areas.
Both adults appear to be dying.
In 1998 the only kotukutuku identified throughout the Kaipatiki Creek was "Adult #1", by the boardwalk across Geminata Clearing above Fuchsia Pool. It stands on a moderately steep part of the streambank still exposed to sun between adjacent wild regen, mostly mahoe, ponga, kanuka, coprosma, pate, nikau.
Adult#1 flowering in 2000, after construction of the public path in 1999
Approx 10m width of the bank immediately above this kotukutuku lacked other tree canopy at the time. The bank held dense tradescantia around some Carex geminata, juvenile kanono, pate, karamu, mahoe and nikau. A boardwalk was built beside it across continual run off from housing above, with nearby sewage overflows assumed to be responsible for a hole 2-3m deep at the top of an underground culvert nearby. (The supports at one end of the boardwalk over this area have subsided by several centimetres, suggesting either the ground is extremely soft or that the underground erosion continues).
From 1997-2000, hand-removal of tradescantia assisted dense ground cover on the bank above by Carex geminata C. lambertiana, and C. dissita, and the development of juvenile Kanono, nikau, pate.
Tradescantia has reinvaded the area and the C. geminata are reduced in number, probably partly due to canopy spread on all sides of what used to be a wide treeless space.
From 2000 to c. 2005, the foliage of Kotukutuku Adult #1, only occasionally observed, was sparse, unhealthy looking and sometimes absent. The tree was next observed in June 2018, when foliage was almost entirely absent.
Some healthy foliage was seen Dec 2018.
In August 2019 it was observed with few leaves
We became aware of its identity only when surveying the flow of sewage into the stream via a culvert formed by stormwater. Having fallen and hanging on by its roots, its trunk having collapsed into the stream, so it is now visible from the footbridge at the Native Plant Trail entry.
Kotukutuku Adult #2 was not identified until the recent sewage overflow down the bank on which it stands, a metre above the stream in a culvert which becomes a waterfall after heavy rain, frequently including raw sewage overflow.
Adult #2 was nearly leafless when first observed in April 2019, partially uprooted from the stormwater channel and almost horizontal, hanging low over the stream.
Two seedlings/juveniles c.1mH were observed near the start of the Native Plant Trail, ie 10-20m from the adult falling into the stream below the footbridge, in late 2018. These two seedlings were a metre or two from the path in dense Tradescantia, looking vigorous.
Vegetation alongside the pathside was cut down and horizontally pruned in early March 2019, presumably by a Reserve user to widen the path. Despite redesitributing cut vegetation, searching and handweeding the Tradescantia, these two seedlings ere not found.
We will be looking for the two or three previously-observed seedlings near the other adult, hoping they have survived.
We note this species is prone to destruction by possums. F. excorticata appears to be one of the possum's preferred food sources, and they will browse individual trees to the point of defoliation after which the trees will die.
This link shows all observations identified as kotukutuku in the Kaipatiki Creek restoration site https://inaturalist.nz/observations?order_by=observed_on&place_id=131524&subview=table&taxon_id=70228
The list should update automatically as new observations are added.
Comments
Following. I really want to plant some in Linley Reserve, but they haven't been recommended. The adult trees along the Creek and at Pa Harakeke should mean they were found locally in more abundance pre-possum. Is that your understanding, or do you think they have been planted?
Wild, for sure. First observed several metres high, mature, kn wet bank amidst kanuka, mahoe, ponga and tradescantia.
I will keep my eye out for a seedling for you, eg one that is to close to the path, or in abundance of them
Wild, for sure. First observed 1997 or 98, several metres high, mature, on steep wet bank amidst kanuka, mahoe, ponga and tradescantia. There was a good bit of regen on the opposite steep bank below Kaipatiki Rd.
I will keep my eye out for a seedling for you, eg one that is too close to the path, or among an abundance of them ....which I hope will happen once the path is well bordered and edges chemical-free
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