Carpodetus serratus < Species index > Clematis paniculata
This article was first published in the Tararua Tramper Volume 96, # 2, March 2024
March in the hills with Michele Dickson, Chris Horne
Clematis forsteri, Pikiarero, pōānanga, puataua, puawānaga, Forster’s clematis, small white clematis
Photo: Jeremy Rolfe
Origin of the botanical names
Clematis is derived from the Greek word ‘klema’ meaning ‘a vine-branch’ or ‘a pruned twig’; forsteri comes from J R and J G A Forster, German father and son botanists on Captain Cook’s second voyage to New Zealand in 1773. The genus is a member of the Ranunculaceae family which, in addition to many introduced garden plants, is represented in New Zealand by many buttercup species.
Distribution and habitat
Forster’s clematis is endemic to Aotearoa. It is found in lowland forest and forest margins, cliffs, open spaces and stream-sides, from north of Auckland south to northern Westland and Canterbury.
Growth habit
Forster’s clematis is a small, slender, woody vine / liane up to 10 m tall with main stems up to 5-10 cm diameter at the base. The branchlets are grooved and glabrous / hairless. The opposite leaves are trifoliate on twining petioles / stalks 4-6 cm long with petiolules 1.5-2 cm long. To climb, the plant's leaf stalks twine around other plants. The leaflet blades are bright green to grey-green with paler undersides, thin to thick, narrow to broadly ovate but very variable, almost always lobed, toothed or deeply dissected with a flat base. The leaflet apex usually comes to a short point. Leaflets are about 3-8 x 1-4.5 cm, larger and thinner for juveniles.
Reproduction
The star-shaped, spice-scented flowers are greenish-white to pale green all over. They are borne in panicles, have no petals, but have 5-8 rather narrow, 2 x 0.5 cm, petal-like sepals. Flowers are unisexual and on separate plants, the male flowers being larger at up to 4 cm wide. Pollination is by pollen-collecting bees. At fruiting, the female part develops a long, curved, feathery tip about 3 cm long, as the seed develops into a dry single-seeded fruit dispersed by wind. These form drooping, thin and sparsely, beard-like clusters from each flower. Flowering is September to March, fruiting October to April.
Uses
Clematis flowers have been used for female head-dresses. A decoction of the bark and stems of the pikiarero and the root of the tātarahake (Coprosma acerosa) has been taken as an alternative medicine and leaves have been used by Māori as a blister or counter-irritant. Leaves have been crushed and rubbed on breasts to wean a child from the breast. Stem sap has been blown onto horse wounds. Some pā ramparts (Tapatahi pā at Waipiro and the Orongo-iri pā) are said to be composed of stones with clay worked in between them. Pieces of aka pōānanga (Clematis vine) were mixed with the clay to bind the fabric. Such a wall was called koperu or parihi.
Where can you find Forster’s clematis?
Look for it in Te Kopahou Reserve, Mākara area, Island Bay, Huntleigh Park Reserve, Ōtari-Wilton’s Bush, Wainuiomata and Ōrongorongo catchments, Horoeka Scenic Reserve and the Akatarawa, Aorangi and Tararua ranges.