Sophora tetraptera (PLUG grown) Kowhai - North Island Ht 5-15m
Small Tree / NZ native / Evergreen / Attractive flowers or catkins / Attractive to birds / Attractive berries fruits or cone / Attracts bees / Container Grown / Cold hardy (H4) (-10 to -5C)
Endemic to the East of North Island, now widely planted. Branches spreading sometimes pendulous. Branchlets clad in a golden yellow or grey tomentum. Leaves 100-150mm with 10-20 pairs of grey-green leaflets well spaced, never crowded or overlapping, densely clad in silky straight appressed hairs. Up to 10 flowers in a bunch Sept.-Dec., nectar attracting tui, bellbirds and bees. The wood is very hard and durable.