Plants with interesting stories
Elingamita johnsonii
This lovely plant, native to West Island of the 3 Kings Islands was only discovered in 1950 by Marchant and Johnson. It was first grown at Butler Point in Maunganui in the far North. A few plants were also given to the DSIR for research. Dick's father Jan Willem Endt was a new Dutch immigrant and had recently got a job at the DSIR as the photographer for plant pests and diseases. He was given cutting material from these first plants, which now thrive at Landsendt. The plant was named Elingamita after the shipwreck the Elingamite which wrecked at West Island in 1902.
The plant reaches about 3m. The ones at Landsendt are smaller, only 1.5m. They have yellow flowers and later, bunches of red berries on the female plants.
One Christmas we had Matt Berberich from Longwood Gardens on his OE. He made a lovely Chrismas wreath as a surprise - from kiwifruit vines, beautifully constructed, and generous clusters of Elingamita berries. "I'm not sure what these berries are but they look very Christmassy" It turned out this was the first time these plants had ever seeded...woops. Luckily they have happily seeded most years since. Matt did the stone walls in the gully garden and also the dry river bed through the jungle garden.
Other plants at Landsendt that came from the DSIR via JW Endt are the jaboticaba, Rewi Alley's litchee (which died in 2007)Tecomathe speciosa (from the early trials).
Pandanus brosimos
Largest species of pandanus - has great ethnobotanical significance. Native to Irian Jaya. Occurs at altitude of 2900m. High altitude tropical plants thrive well at Landsendt.
A missionary friend of Dick's, Dave Askin, was working with the Dani people. He approached Dick because he wanted to introduce edible plants of interest for these people. Plants included Cherimoya and papaya species. As a trade, on his return to NZ he gave Dick some Pandanus seed, saying he 'saved the seed from the jaws of death'. The tribe were having a feast. He pocketed some seed rather than eating it.
These plants look very odd in the NZ landscape as they are a truly tropical plant and only survive here because of the high altitude location. The plants have produced fruit but not seed, so it is unlikely to ever be available for sale.
Check out this web page by Kal Muller 'nuts on a trek' http://www.petra.ac.id/eastern/irian/travel/nuts.htm
Rosa rugosa - Ann Endt
It is an honour to have a plant named after a person and Ann Endt certainly deserves her namesake.
Ken Knobbs, a rose breeder named the plant, a stunning single cerise rose with unusual long buds. The plant came up as a sport or seedling in her garden. Ken developed the stock and named it after her.
Ann is my grandmother. She had a lovely garden in Holland which was sorely missed when they immigrated. Her rose addiction started in New Zealand. Her first job here was as a house keeper for Nancy Steen. Nancy gave her cuttings for her new garden, a run down lemon orchard in Nola Road, Oratia. This garden, Schuylenburg, was absolutely gorgeous. There really were fairies that lived here. I was a kid and her garden was our dream world play ground.
She opened her garden to the public every year in the 60s and 70s with the donation proceeds going to the SPCA.
Schuylenburg was not just a beautiful garden but an amazing collection of heritage roses, an inspiration for the beginnings of the Heritage Rose Society. Her garden is still there but as with many gardens, it's soul died when she died.
As part of our heritage garden around the homestead, Sunnydale, at Landsendt, we have planted a hedge of Ann Endt. The plant is much like the lady , tough root stock with a beautiful flower. She lives on.
Parajubaea cocoides - Mountain Coconut - Quito Palm
This palm was introduced to NZ by Dick. It has no habitat and is found in Quito, the capital city of Ecuador. In monastaries and street plantings. Because of its edible nuts it was most likely an Inca food crop, a plant that was taken with them. Seed was not easily obtainable as it was collected for food as it dropped. NZ should plant edible trees in public spaces for the same reason.
New Zealand had a native coconut palm which died out 10 million years ago. Their fossilised seeds still wash up on Coopers beach after a storm. They are lodged in a coal seam just off the coast. They have found these fossils as far south as Otago Peninsula. This palm is called Cocos zeylandica. The interesting thing about the 2 palms is that their seeds are so similar that they appear to be very closely related. Black seeds in picture are NZ fossils and brown seeds are P. cocoides.
It can be suggested that it is a similar species from Gondwana times. We have seen other plants such as Sophora (Kowhai) and Nothofagus (Southern Beech) which are native to both places. We think that NZ has unique flora but so many NZ plants are found throughout the ex Gondwana continent. Agathis, Macropiper, Schefflera to name a few.
Several species of Parajubaea now grow in New Zealand. They are all South American. They occur in the mountainous Andes region and are very cold hardy. P. torallyii will take temperatures up to - 10 degrees. They are happily growing at Larnach Castle on Otago Peninsula.
Podocarpus totara - Hall's Totara
Hall's Totara has a special connection with Landsendt because of its namesake. J W Hall was a chemist and also botanist, he was also the uncle of William Thompson, the man murdered at Sunnydale (the homestead at Landsendt) in 1892. Through the research to find out about the murder we also learnt more about Mr. Hall. We discovered the exsistance of some letters that Hall wrote to Thomas Cheeseman, the then curator of Auckland museum. These letters led to the awareness of the work that Hall did with native flora. He was, to our knowledge, the first person in NZ to collect and record data, making Hall's Reserve in Thames the first arboretum in NZ. His letters describe a friendship with Captain Dorien Smith from Tresco Abbey in Scilly Islands, Cornwall, UK. Early NZ natives grow in this garden which would undoubtedly have come from Hall and some of the exotics in Hall's Reserve would have come from Tresco. My first introduction to Hall's Reserve was a conducted tour by DOC (Department of Conservation). They wanted the public opinion on what to do with the exotics in the reserve, possibly removing them. This was the time we discovered the letters. So timely. Imagine if Tresco Abbey thought the removal of 100 year old NZ natives was a good idea!!
Hall's Totara is distinctly different to the normal totara in that it has finer bark. Landsendt has an old specimen next to the old water tank of the cow shed. The Sunnydale farm was a dairy farm before the Endt's bought it in 1962.
Jubaea chilensis - Chilean Wine Palm
The fattest palm in the world. The extinct Easter Island form (now regarded as a different species) was reputed to be even fatter. This palm was introduced to NZ by Governor Grey. Two large specimens are growing at Mansion House, Kawau Island. The large specimen at Landsendt is a seedling from Kawau.
In Chile these palms are cut down to extract a beverage locally known as 'Palm Honey'. This has caused the palm to become rare. it is now a protected species in Chile.
These palms are frustratingly slow growing. Our large one is now over 30 years old and about 10m.
Musa sapientum - Misi Luki - Banana
This banana has proved to be the best fruiting variety at Landsendt. Dick trialled many to find the best.
It was introduced into NZ in the early 1970's by Albert Peters. He was married to a Samoan lady and had access to many tropical fruits which he trialled at his Mangere Bridge property. A tropical oasis in suburbia, a real oddity in the 70's. Dick obtained his first plants from Albert Peters.
Its namesake 'Misi Luki' is a missionary Mr Lucas. They couldn't pronounce his name properly so he was called Misi Luki. I'm not sure why they named the banana after him.
The variety is native to India however it became a popular and commercial crop in Samoa. The reason it does so well in NZ is because it is from the high altidude regions of Samoa. Most bananas are less cold tolerant.
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