No matter what time of the year you go bush in New Zealand, it’s always green. Unlike other parts of the world, New Zealand has very few trees that are deciduous (shed their leaves annually). Mountain ribbonwoods (Hoheria glabrata) is one of them.
When I traversed the Upper Nuggety Creek Flat in the Marino Mountains, I noticed a large number of small trees scattered throughout the flat’s eastern slope. Their soft, bright green leaves were flapping in the wind, and my immediate thought was, “these are deciduous trees—are they native?”
Upper Nuggety Creek catchment
Mountain ribbonwoods on the eastern slope of Upper Nuggety Creek Flat
Indeed they are! Mountain ribbonwoods (aka Mountain lacebark and houhere in Māori) comes in two “flavours”: Hoheria lyallii and Hoheria glabrata. The former grows up to six metres high, mainly on the eastern side of the South Island’s main divide, and the latter up to ten metres high primarily on the western side. Both are found along forest margins, stream terraces and in shrublands from 600 to 1050 metres altitude. In late summer they produce a spectacular display of cherrytree-like, sweetly fragranced blossoms.
Mountain ribbonwoods—Hoheria glabrata
Mountain ribbonwoods blossom
On my quest to find other deciduous trees that are native to New Zealand, I found only two other ones:
- Tree fuchsia—Kōtukutuku—Fuchsia excorticata
- Hectors tree daisy—Olearia hectorii
If you know any deciduous trees that are native to New Zealand, that I haven’t mentioned above, I would appreciate your comment below.
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Tags: flowers, kahurangi, new zealand trees
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What about the Kowhai? Loses it’s leaves when it flowers, does this count as deciduous??
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John, I wasn’t sure about the kowhai so I asked an expert: Nelson botanist Shannel Courtney, who replied:
…technically, when a kowhai loses its leaves, even when it’s in spring, it is deciduous. It is just doing it at a different time than we are used to (ie autumn). As the leaves fall around the time of flowering, I think it is a strategy which encourages more birds to pollinate the flowers as there are no obscuring leaves in the way which makes the tree, when in full yellow bloom, visible to birds for miles. We have 8 species of kowhai and not all of the them are fully deciduous, though.
Deciduous natives additional to the ones you mention include: Olearia fragrantissima, Olearia gardneri, Plagianthus regius, Hoheria lyalli.
Thank you Shannel, and thank you John for your comment and suggestion!
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We have a Plagianthus regius (swamp ribbonwood) in our front garden here in Chch. It’s really tall (?10m) and hosts quite a lot of birdlife. Recently it hasn’t lost all its leaves, just most of them. It has tiny green flowers on panicles.
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