Kowhai

Sophora fulvida

The kowhai, our national flower, welcomes spring with a burst of bright yellow flowers, rivaling the pinks of Japanese cherries. Tuis and wood pigeons love the flowers. Small tree with graceful weeping leaves. The tree has a distinct juvenile stage, where it looks more like shrub than a tree.

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Pictures:

		Sophora fulvida
		Sophora tetraptera

See also:  NZ Natives, Trees & shrubs, Culture / Germination

S. fulvida (syn. S. microphylla var. fulvida), the West Coast kowhai, is one of the five newly classified kowhai species and unfortunately is in decline. This kowhai usually only has a very short juvenile stage.

Bud Flowers Flowers Tree

Trees Flowering trees growing in the bush. Trees Flowering trees growing next to a cliff amongst kauri trees.

S. tetraptera is known as the North Island kowhai, and although less common in the bush than S. microphylla (South Island kowhai), it is more commonly grown in gardens.

Tetraptera