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Clianthus puniceus
Also called Kaka-beak, Lobster Claw, New Zealand Parrot's-bill, Parrot's-bill, Parrot's Beak, Kākā Beak, Parrotbill
Glory-pea is a shrub or subshrub from New Zealand's North Island, now extinct in the wild and grown in gardens. It needs warm, free-draining conditions and shelter from frost to do well.
Clianthus puniceus, also known as kaka beak or Kōwhai Ngutu-kākā in Māori, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Clianthus of the legume family Fabaceae that was endemic to New Zealand's North Island but has become extinct in the wild.
Clianthus puniceus is widely cultivated today, and is interestingly one of the "first endemic plants to be grown in cultivation both in New Zealand and overseas". Due to the plant's striking flowers and form, seeds were sent from the gardens of Europeans in New Zealand overseas and to various parts of the world including California and England. Today, the plant is still cultivated in various parts of Europe.
Even though in New Zealand C.puniceus was previously widely grown as a garden plant, it has generally been replaced by the more robust Clianthus maximus. However, it is cultivated in the UK, where it has given rise to several cultivars. Both the species and the cultivar 'Roseus' have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit (confirmed 2017).
Populations of Clianthus puniceus in the wild are rare and are only composed of a few plants. They can be found on cliffs, bluffs, or margins of bodies of water.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Clianthus puniceus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
