Monkey Hand Tree, Hand Plant Tree (Chiranthodendron pentadactylon)

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PotEmUp Fremont, CA(Zone 9a) Jan 25, 2006

Monkey Hand Tree, Hand Plant Tree
Chiranthodendron pentadactylon

Both the outer shell and the inner linings are reminiscent of velveteen.

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Piwi Auckland, New Zealand May 23, 2006

Here is a photo of the Mexican Handflower tree growing in my garden in the Waitakere Ranges in West Auckland, New Zealand.

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Piwi Auckland, New Zealand May 23, 2006

This photo shows one of the pods that appeared on my tree for the first time this year.

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Piwi Auckland, New Zealand May 23, 2006

Waitakere Ranges, Auckland, New Zealand.

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PotEmUp Fremont, CA(Zone 9a) May 26, 2006

Your tree is in more of a bush form than the one at my local park. How did you come by the plant? I would love to come visit it.

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Piwi Auckland, New Zealand May 26, 2006

Hello PotEmUp

Indeed, mine is a tree rather than a bush. If you zoom in on the photo, the dog sitting in the front of the photo is a springer spaniel. That should give you some idea of the scale.

At a guess, my tree would be about 10m tall with a spread of about 5m. It's been growing here for about 15 years and until this summer just gone, I had never seen any pods on the tree despite seeing hundreds of flowers. One of the pods I found had already burst open. The rest haven't despite my experiments to try to persuade them to do so.

I got my tree when it was less than a metre tall. Another was planted at the same time down country. That tree produced pods. I know of a third tree that is growing in another location down country; that one regularly produces pods. One particular species of native bird drinks the nectar from that tree all summer so I'm guessing that the tui's are pollinating the flowers. Unfortunately, the tui's that frequent my garden never went near my handflower tree so quite likely, the flowers haven't been pollinated. I got seed pods for the first time this summer. Maybe some species of bird has suddenly taken a liking to the handflower tree nectar and in doing so, has pollinated the flowers for the first time ever.

One of the pods I found had already opened but the others, they just hung there. I removed some of them but despite my efforts, I haven't managed to persuade any of the other to open nor have I had any success at germinating the seeds I have been given, hence this posting.

I searched the internet for information and found that there is one other Mexican Handflower Tree growing in Napier which is about 200miles south of where I live here in Auckland, New Zealand. The trees are not available through commercial outlets.

Many thanks for your reply and any information you can supply on how to get the pods to open and the seeds to germinate will be gratefully received.

Cheers
Piwi



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