Found these beautiful objects on the bush floor beside our smaller tawa grove at Struan Farm recently:
A quick check with our native tree guide revealed they are "Rewarewa" flowers, also called New Zealand Honeysuckle or Knightia excelsa. The nectar is food for bellbird, silvereye, tui and bees, used to be collected by Maori to eat. Bees produce an unusually dark and rich flavoured honey from it.
Think they look rather like anemones or "kina," don't they?
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