← Wiki

Plant

Pōhutukawa

Metrosideros excelsa

Also known as: Pohutukawa, New Zealand Christmas tree, Metrosideros excelsa

A coastal evergreen tree endemic to the northern North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand, famous for its crimson stamen-burst flowering in December — the timing that earned it the common name 'New Zealand Christmas tree.' Cliff-clinging, salt-tolerant, capable of regenerating from broken aerial roots. Cultural and ecological keystone of the northern coastal forest.

Scientific

Metrosideros excelsa is in the myrtle family (Myrtaceae). Reaches 20m, with grey-green leaves white-felted on the underside. The crimson flowering display is actually a mass of stamens — true petals are inconspicuous. Bird-pollinated, primarily by tūī and bellbird (korimako).

Pōhutukawa is exceptionally salt-tolerant and root-adaptive, capable of growing on bare cliff faces and regenerating from broken branches that touch soil. Aerial roots form readily on older trunks.

Cultural

Long called the “New Zealand Christmas tree” for its summer flowering. Held as a taonga across the northern iwi. The Te Reinga Pōhutukawa at Cape Reinga — the leaping-off point of spirits in Māori cosmology — is one of the most spiritually significant trees in Aotearoa.

See also

Auto-generated from this entry’s typed relations: frontmatter, grouped by relation type so the editorial signal isn’t flattened.

  • Member of: [[plants]]
  • Contained by: [[tamaki-makaurau]]
  • Grown by: [[kaipatiki-project-native-plant-nursery]] · [[kauri-park-nurseries]] · [[restoring-takarunga-hauraki]] · [[thriving-natives]]

Sources

  • DOC pōhutukawa species pages
  • Te Ara — The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

A plant entry in the 0mn1.one [[directory]].

Grown by

All listings →

Farms and nurseries in the 0mn1.one directory that grow pōhutukawa. Each is a real working operation — visit, buy from, learn from.

Kaipātiki Project Native Plant Nursery

substrate builder

tamaki-makaurau

A community-driven, chemical-free native plant nursery on Auckland's North Shore, operating two sites — Birkdale (17 Lauderdale Road) and Engine Bay garden at Hobsonville Point. Eco-sources, propagates, and pots up tens of thousands of native plants annually across 80+ species, supplying local reserve restoration and community planting projects. Member of Te Aka Kōtuia, Auckland's network of iwi and community native nurseries.

Kauri Park Nurseries

substrate builder

tamaki-makaurau

New Zealand's largest wholesale native and urban-landscaping nursery, based on State Highway One at Kaiwaka, North Auckland (with a Palmerston North branch). A NZ-owned family business operating as a vertically integrated group — seed sourcing through site planting and maintenance — supplying civil contractors, forestry owners, government agencies, councils, developers, and landscape architects. Notable projects include supplying 2.5 million plants for the Transmission Gully motorway.

Restoring Takarunga Hauraki

substrate builder

tamaki-makaurau

A community ecological-restoration organization based at the historic Devonport Fire Brickworks site in Dacre Park, Auckland — operating Ngau-te-ringaringa Community Nursery (NCN) on a community lease secured 2023. Cultivates 20,000+ native plants annually across 75 species, targeting 8,000–11,000 plantings per year along the Devonport peninsula. Member of Te Aka Kōtuia network.

Thriving Natives

substrate builder

tamaki-makaurau

A West Auckland native plant nursery growing and supplying New Zealand natives for landscapers, designers, and homeowners. Catalog spans flowering natives, grasses and flaxes, bird-and-pollinator-friendly plants, hedging and screening species, ferns, groundcovers, and feature trees.

What links here, and how

Inbound connections from across the wiki, grouped by lens and by relationship. These appear automatically — every entity page declares what it links to, and that data populates here on the targets.

Scientific

grows

cousin of

  • Mānuka Aotearoa Myrtaceae kin — pohutukawa the coastal-cliff iconographer, mānuka the recovery-and-restoration workhorse; same family playing complementary roles in NZ forest.

5 inbound links · 2 outbound