The genus Parsonsia contains three New Zealand species, with about 80 more extending through Australia, the Pacific islands and Asia.
Parsonsia heterophylla grows in forests throughout Aotearoa. In Dunedin Botanic Garden, it is common in bush areas and pops up freely in the Rhododendron Dell and New Zealand native plant borders.
Seedlings and juvenile specimens of Parsonsia heterophylla can have many different leaf forms on the same plant. Leaves range from sword-shaped, like a baby lancewood leaf, to being short and round, more like a small-leaved coprosma. They may have smooth leaf margins or be lobed, and can vary in colour from green, brown to a mottled combination of the two.
With these features, these plants often remain unnoticed until their slender, twining stems have woven their way well up through the branches of a shrub or tree.
Like some other New Zealand plants, Parsonia heterophylla changes form as it transitions into adulthood. The leaves become more uniform, leathery, dark green and more or less elliptical in shape.
At this stage the plant also begins to produce flowers. Each flower is tiny, but are produced in many clusters, crowning the host shrub or tree with a creamy white display.
Following pollination long, dry seed capsules are produced. When ripe, the capsules split open to release many silky-tufted seeds, which fly off in the breeze like little parachutes.
Garden Life is produced by the Dunedin Botanic Garden. For further information contact Kate Caldwell.
