Flora of New Zealand Series

wonga wonga vine

Vigorous liane. Lvs petiolate, with (3)-5-7-(9) leaflets; leaflets 1.5-6 × 0.7-4 cm, lanceolate-ovate to ± oblong, usually entire, sometimes serrate in upper 1/2; base cuneate to rounded, often oblique in lateral leaflets; apex usually mucronate. Panicles of very numerous fragrant fls; peduncles and pedicels puberulent or glabrous. Calyx 3-4 mm long; teeth short and acute, puberulent or glabrous. Corolla 1.7-2.3 cm long, white or cream outside, variously marked with crimson or deep red inside; tube 1-1.5 cm long, broadly cylindric, slightly curved on upper side, glabrous; lobes broad-ovate to suborbicular, densely hairy on both surfaces, patent at first, later recurved; upper lobes to 4 mm long; lower lobes to 6 mm long. Ovary and style ± puberulent. Capsule c. 9 × 2 cm including beak. Seeds 2-2.5 cm wide including wing.

N.: Opotiki, Bay of Plenty; S.: Oaro (coastal Marlborough).

New Guinea, E. Australia, Tasmania 1981

Growing on Leptospermum, Kunzea and Berberis.

FL Aug-Nov.

Wonga wonga vine is illustrated in Fig. 39. It is cultivated in many of the milder parts of N.Z. where the plants are often noted for their extremely floriferous habit. Since there is only one definite report of frs and seeds being produced it is most probable that the wild plants noted had spread vegetatively a short distance beyond the original cultivation sites. The sp. has previously been known in N.Z. as P. australis, and Tecoma australis.