MOON-GOLD GLORY

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 772, 19 September 1929, Page 8

MOON-GOLD GLORY

THE KOWHAI IS IN BLOOM

The leafless kowhai is in bloom. Among the native trees it is the harbinger of Spring; perhaps not the only one, but easily the most prominent. The moth-like flowers , clinging to every twig, reflect the gold of the rising full moon, and the tidal creeks of the Xorth Shore now run in lanes of the bloom.

Koichai in the native tongue means “ yellow”, and tho* one species of the tree flaunts a red flower, the better known variety is that which sheds a spilth of gold each year. In Maori folk lore the kowhai carries a princely romance. Like the Greek heroes of old , Maori knight-errant s performed herculean tasks “all for the love of a lady.” One of them , outdistanced by the prowess of a rival ariki, hit upon the scheme of making the leafless kowhai to burst into bloom. And the lady, decked in the golden glory of the magic flowers , capitulated. Botanically, the kowhai is akin to the subalpine flora of Australia and South America ; so closely allied that it cannot be distinguished by the untrained. Scott's expedition unearthed, in the frozen southern continent, seeds , flowers and leaves of the kowhai, apparently identical with the New Zealand tree, showing that at some far aicay time the south regions had a climate similar to our modern New Zealand one. The kowhai does not front the sea, but delights to hug the cliffs along the tidal creeks, as along the Albany River; but it is, nevertheless, no stranger to gardens in Auckland City.