Aoteaora has spoken and a new native plant has risen in the ranks to be crowned the nation’s favourite native plant this year.
The ngutukākā, or clianthus maximua, named after its likeness to the mouth of the kākā, captured the hearts of voters, pulling ahead to take home the crown with 191, pulling ahead of the rimurehia, or zostera muelleri subsp, novaselandica, which took out second favourite with 149 votes.
Voting for the Favourite Plant of the Year competition, run by the New Zealand Plant Conservation Network, closed on December 15, but since voting opened on November 17 the ngutukākā had a clear lead.
Ranger Graeme Atkins (Ngāti Porou) has spent 30 years with the Department of Conservation trying to improve the status of ngutukākā, and boost its survivability across the East Coast.
Aotearoa has about 2500 native vascular plants, with 82% being endemic to the nation, however, of those, more than 45% were threatened or at risk of extinction, the Network said.
While many people choose to plant the red-flowered flora in their gardens, the plant’s status was Nationally Critical according to the Department of Conservation.
“There’s less than 100 plants growing in the wild, and the trouble is they don’t grow into trees, so the two main threats to them in the wild are deer and goats,” Atkins said.
“The chances of the public seeing them in the wild is pretty much zero because where they hang out in this day and age are on steep cliffs and bluffs.”
Atkins said there are many plants that are grown in private gardens, however they have very little genetic diversity, which could lead to a large scale wipe out from disease.
With the help of his trust, Tairāwhiti Ngutukākā – East Coast Kakabeak, Atkins has built a national following from gardeners and delivered around the community to help the florua flourish.
“The trust was set up to give the community a chance to play a part in the management and lift the species’ profile because it’s such a bloody beautiful plant,” Atkins said.
“We’ve planted a couple of thousand plants at marae and kura, and we just want to put the species back into people’s faces.
“Getting people to vote for the kakabeak is a definite result for all this work we’re putting in.”
To further boost the profile of the Ngutukākā, Atkins was organising a festival in the Gisborne region for September 2024 when the plant will be in bloom.
He hoped to plant 1000 plants across State Highway 35 where people could take in the beauty of what he believes is one of the plants Kiwis were least likely to see bloom in the wild.