Metrosideros fulgens
Encyclopedia
Metrosideros fulgens is a forest liane or vine
endemic to New Zealand
. It occurs in coastal and lowland forest throughout the North Island
and on the west coast of the South Island
. It is one of a number of New Zealand Metrosideros
species which live out their lives as vines, unlike the northern rata ( M.robusta
), which generally begins as a hemi-epiphyte and grows into a huge tree. Scarlet rātā is one of the better known species of rātā vines, because it flowers in autumn or winter, and is often highly visible on well-lit host trees along forest roads, with vibrant displays of large red flowers (sometimes orange or yellow) that rise above the forest canopy.
Metrosideros fulgens prefers warm moist habitats and grows up to 10 m. long or more, with the main stem up to 10 cm. or more in diameter. It climbs in the same way as ivy, sending out short adventitious roots to adhere to the trunks of host trees, penetrating and clinging to rough surfaces. The climbing shoots of juvenile plants are designed to grow rapidly and extend the length of the plant. The short clinging roots usually die after about a year, so that when the vine is mature, the thick, twisted, rope-like stems hang free from the host like thick, sometimes twisted ropes, with red-brown flaky bark. The leaves are mostly rounded at the tip. Flowering is from autumn to spring, with seed capsules taking about a year to ripen.
Vine
A vine in the narrowest sense is the grapevine , but more generally it can refer to any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent, that is to say climbing, stems or runners...
endemic to New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. It occurs in coastal and lowland forest throughout the North Island
North Island
The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...
and on the west coast of the South Island
South Island
The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...
. It is one of a number of New Zealand Metrosideros
Metrosideros
Metrosideros is a genus of approximately 50 trees, shrubs, and vines native to the islands of the Pacific Ocean, from the Philippines to New Zealand and including the Bonin Islands, Polynesia, and Melanesia, with an anomalous outlier in South Africa. Most of the tree forms are small, but some are...
species which live out their lives as vines, unlike the northern rata ( M.robusta
Metrosideros robusta
Northern rātā , is a huge forest tree endemic to New Zealand. It grows up to 25 m or taller, and usually begins its life as a hemiepiphyte high in the branches of a mature forest tree; over centuries the young tree sends descending and girdling roots down and around the trunk of its host,...
), which generally begins as a hemi-epiphyte and grows into a huge tree. Scarlet rātā is one of the better known species of rātā vines, because it flowers in autumn or winter, and is often highly visible on well-lit host trees along forest roads, with vibrant displays of large red flowers (sometimes orange or yellow) that rise above the forest canopy.
Description