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You
are Here > NATIVES
> Lowland> Kowhai
| Common name: Kowhai |
Botanical name: Sophora
microphylla |
| Family:
Fabaceae (Pea family) |
Maximum
height: Up to 10 m with a trunk 60 cm
in diameter. |
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| Where found: |
- Tolerates poor soil and also tolerates dry but prefers moist
soil.
- Grows naturally on riverbanks, forest margins and in open places,
Egmont Ringplain.
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| Description: |
- Spreading drooping form. Passes through a juvenile stage which
is a twiggy shrub with yellow, flexible, rather wiry interlacing
branchlets bearing a few leaves. It lasts for many years with
the branches often persisting around the
base of the trunk for some time.
- Leaves have serrated/smooth margins - semi-deciduous. The pinnate
leaves up to 15 cm long with 20 to 40 pairs of oval-oblong leaflets,
are each 5-7 mm long.
- Golden flowers.
- Rough bark.
- Pea-like flowers feed tui and bellbird in spring.
- Tolerant of frost/wind - possum hardy.
Environmental
Tolerances - key
- Sophora godleyi is the Kowhai species found
in inland Taranaki on siltstone and mudstone. It does not have
a divaricating juvenile form.
- Sophora chathamica is the species in coastal North Taranaki
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Click
on image for larger picture
PHOTO: Maggie Bayfield
PHOTO: DOC
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