Fuchsia excorticata is the New Zealand tree fuchsia and is in all it’s glory at this time of year.
This strange-looking tree grows to about 13 metres tall making it the tallest growing fuchsia in the world, and has soft flaky bark peeling like sheets of paper from its branches.
The flower pictured to the left is one of the Hermaphrodite variety, with both anthers covered in purple/blue pollen and a bright yellow stigma. But not all tree fuchsia are created equal and in the image below you can see the difference between the big hermaphrodite flowers and delicate female flowers without pollen of their own (this variety gives the NZ tree fuchsia the label gynodieocious). Female trees are completely reliant on the availability of the pollen of the hermaphrodite flowers while hermaphrodite flowers may be pollinated by themselves (selfing) or any other hermaphrodite pollen available. only a little pollen is required for seed set but studies have shown that mainalnd pollinators still arent cutting it and flowers are often pollen limited, meaning that not as many seeds are made as in plants on offshore islands where pollinators are abundant.
The difference in colour you see above and below occurs when the flowers mature and are pollinated ( – although I’m not 100% on the latter and can’t find the reference), they go from a glossy green contrasting with the vibrant purple pollen and yellow stigma to the pink that is more commonly associated with Fuchsia flowers. You can find out more on the evolution of colour change in flowers here, but I still find it surprising the way it happens here. Usually you will find that brightly coloured flowers, particularly red ones are those evolved to attract birds, like fuchsia they tent to have nectaries with a little treat for the visiting bird, enticing them to get pollen on them and therefore transferring it from flower to flower to the plants advantage.
Red is a great attractant for birds as their range of vision lean towards the red end of the spectrum (think tui in your Pohutukawa or bellbirds in the Rata at christmas), and white flowers often have ultraviolet ‘landing strips’ for insects, particularly bees whose vision tends towards the blue end of the spectrum, and green flowers might have strong night scent for moths.
BUT if red is such a good attractor for birds, and birds seem to be the ‘intended’ pollinator for fuchsia (hanging flowers with large nectaries) why would the fuchsia flower only turn red/pink when pollination is done and the nectar reward is gone?
And despite this rejection of the trend, the birds still come – the trees are full of bellbirds with faces blue from the bright pollen, they figured it out anyway – clever birds.
So, after all that, I don’t have an answer for you – I just think it’s curious that’s all.
And now we know how pollination happens, it’s all about the nectar eaters hunting out the best snacks in the forest. Here in New Zealand the main pollinators are bellbirds and tui, while in overseas gardens bees do more of the work (although not anywhere near as well) but birds have more to do with this life-cycle than just pollination. The tree fuchsia forms juicy berries, popular in cooking once upon a time, which are yet another part of these birds annual diet and in the disposal of wastes the seeds are dispersed across the forest to ensure the continuation of the species – birds are very good at depositing seeds, fertilizer included 
But are they doing it well enough? This study looks at fuchsia reproduction and has noticed it’s not just mammal browsing that these trees have to worry about. On offshore islands the fruits are gobbled up almost as soon as they are ripe, while on the mainland where our bird life has been hammered by habitat loss and mammalian predators often the fruit remains on the trees – what happens next?
The loss of pollinators and dispersers is a problem across the country, what trees are disappearing under our noses as their natural replacement is disrupted?
something to think about.
But on the lighter side, a great place to see mainland fuchsia getting back to what they ought to be doing is the Orokonui Ecosanctuary
where the forest is being restored and the bird life along with it, there’s no shortage of bellbirds or tui there. Also keep and eye out for Kanuka, Bushlawyer, Wineberry and Hebe lots of stunning flowers and their assistants the birds and the bees working away.
