Cabbage trees in full bloom
Cabbage trees and flax are having a bonanza season, biologist Dr Bob Brockie writes
Cabbage trees have bloomed like crazy this spring. You can see this from the numerous bunches of white berries on the trees at the moment. I have been counting the number of flowers on
Ka¯ piti cabbage trees for nearly 30 years and can assure you that last spring was one of the most prolific on record.
Nearly all cabbage trees flower every year, but flower numbers rise or fall dramatically from year to year.
A tree might produce 50 bunches of flowers one year but only half a dozen the next year, then back to 50 again the following year.
The trees alternate between heavy and poor flowering years in sync, not only on the Ka¯ piti Coast but all the way from Taranaki to Dunedin, including those eight trees in front of Parliament.
Beekeepers welcomed all the cabbage tree flowers as their nectar makes a fine honey.
Look around and you’ll see flax bushes also having a bonanza season, with any number of black flowering stems (korari) reaching skyward and tuis feasting on them.
Flax alternates between heavy and poor flowering years on a grander scale than cabbage trees.
As an example, the big mire north of Plimmerton, (otherwise known as ‘Taupo Swamp’) is at the moment black with thousands of flower stems.
Last January it had scarcely a stem, and I’ll bet 10 to 1 the flowers will be way down again next year.
Many New Zealanders believe that a heavy flowering of cabbage trees predicts a good summer the following season.
But my figures don’t point that way.
Heavy flowering is often followed by poor summers, and the very poor flowering of 2016 was followed by the hottest summer on record in 2017.
There’s just no connection. There’s a great mystery in the cabbage tree and flax flowering.
How come they flower in sync with each other in alternate years from Taranaki to Dunedin?