A column about cabbage trees by Bob Brockie in a recent Listener caught my eye. Although Cordyline australis trees were first planted on the “English Riviera” (the stretch of coastline known as Torbay and including Torquay, the birthplace of Agatha Christie) in Victorian times, Bob, who is an expert on diseases afflicting these trees, had a more recent story to relate.
During World War 1, many New Zealand troops wounded in France were repatriated to a hospital in Torquay, a small town on the south coast of England. To remind them of home, a row of our native cabbage trees/tī kōuka (Cordyline australis) was planted in the grounds of the hospital, and the tall trees are still there. The Brits took a liking to these trees, calling them ‘Torquay palms’ … They think our cabbage trees look exotic, tropical and glamorous …
In 1982, British graphic designer John Gorham (1937–2001) was commissioned to devise a poster for the English Riviera and came up with a look inspired by earlier travel posters (such as the one above), albeit simplified to a prominent silhouette of a Torbay palm against a blue sky that lightens towards the horizon, a horizontal strip of teal sea and another of golden sand. See it here. Cabbage trees, of course, aren’t part of the palm family, but no matter, they’re not part of the cabbage family either!
Torquay United Football Club’s shirts for 2020-22 feature “an eye-catching central stripe with a repeating palm tree pattern. Not just any palm tree, either – it’s the famously hardy Torquay Palm, known for its resilience and durability, characteristics that have served United’s players well since the club’s formation in 1899.” I have to say that from a distance it looks like a tyre track!
When a good size, often after growing a side branch, a cabbage tree will produce large sweet-smelling florescences, each head containing 6,000 to 10,000 small flowers. These flowers last for up to 6 weeks and, generally, there is a bumper crop every 3 to 5 years.
The largest known tree with a single trunk is growing at Pakawau, Golden Bay, in the South Island. It is estimated to be 400 or 500 years old, and stands 17m tall with a circumference of 9m at the base. The tallest example has been measured at 18m and stands in the grounds of Ashburn Clinic near Dunedin. Read more about that tree here.
Sandra's Garden 