DID YOU KNOW?

Kohekohe, Dysoxylum spectabile, was once much more common in coastal and lowland forests than it is today. One reason for their decline in numbers is that the juicy flowering shoots, which grow directly from the trunk and large branches, and any seeds produced, are delicacies possums and rats just can’t resist. Even old mature kohekohe trees can produce few, if any, offspring in areas where these predators are not controlled.

The NZ Tree Register lists four notable kohekohe. The largest, in Brooklands Park, New Plymouth, was described in 1969 as “the largest of this species seen in any city” (tree 0139); sadly, however, it was blown over by cyclone Bola in 1988. In Okitu Scenic Reserve, Gisborne, there’s a kohekohe described in 2020 as “likely hundreds of years old” (tree 1680). In Auckland, there’s a handsome specimen (pictured) alongside the Grand Drive in Cornwall Park (tree 1670). But perhaps the most impressive is a tree at Frenchmans Swamp near Russell (tree 806), with a spread of 22m and girth of 7m, a likely survivor of early fires that swept Northland.

– The NZ Tree Register, tree 1435.