Raukumara

Botanical name: Brachyglottis perdicioides
Synonyms: Senecio perdicioides; Senecio multinerve; Senecio distinctus; Senecio perdicioides var. distinctus; Brachyglottis perdicioides var. distincta; Senecio tripetaloides
Common name(s): Raukumara

About:
A rare aromatic shrub with slender twiggy branches, pale green toothed leaves and small yellow daisy flowers borne in loose crowded clusters. Young growth is often resinous and slightly sticky.

Natural habitat:
Coastal shrubland, scrub margins, open forest clearings, and exposed coastal hillsides.

Growing environment:
Coastal tolerant, Wind tolerant, Drought tolerant, Poor soil tolerant, Free-draining soil tolerant, Full sun tolerant.

Endemic distribution:
Endemic to the North Island of New Zealand from East Cape and Hicks Bay south to Mahia Peninsula.

Height:
Up to 2 m tall

Width:
Approximately 1 m wide

Flowering:
Spring–Autumn ((October)–November–April–(May))

Fruiting:
Summer–Autumn ((December)–January–April–(May))

Uses:

• Coastal restoration plantings
• Native shrub gardens
• Dry exposed landscapes
• Wildlife and pollinator gardens
• Shelter planting in coastal areas
• Ecological revegetation projects

Appearance:

Growth habit:
Aromatic shrub with a stout trunk and many slender spreading twiggy branches.

Leaves:
Oblong to elliptic-oblong leaves pale to yellow-green with toothed and slightly wavy margins, paler beneath and sometimes lightly cobwebbed underneath.

Flowers:
Small yellow daisy flowers with only a few radiating petals, borne in crowded corymb-like clusters on slender sticky stalks.

Fruit:
Small grooved cypselae topped with fine stiff barbellate pappus hairs dispersed by wind.

Ecology:
An early successional shrub often forming colonies in disturbed coastal scrub and open ground. Wind dispersal allows rapid colonisation of exposed habitats.

Associated habitats:
Occurs naturally within coastal shrublands, scrub communities, cliff margins, and open forest edges.

How to grow:
A hardy adaptable shrub that grows well in full sun and free-draining soil. Tolerates drought, wind, coastal exposure and a wide range of soil types.

Propagation:
Easily propagated from fresh seed or semi-hardwood cuttings.

Cultural use:
Part of the unique eastern North Island coastal shrub flora and valued in restoration planting for its hardiness and adaptability.

Garden value:
A useful hardy native shrub for dry and exposed gardens, appreciated for its fine textured branching, pale foliage and long flowering season.