Harakeke Flowers

Rather than drive to our usual dog walking area early this morning I walked Fergus from our house, skirting the central business area (where dogs are banned) to the Taylor River. This is the down-town section of the Taylor River where there are concrete paths, nice park-like settings, bench seats and attractive plantings of native plants. This is the civilised area of the river berms. The concrete paths allow folk with baby buggies, mobility scooters and skate boards enjoy the riverside environment.
I spent a little time photographing some of the native plants and today’s image is of some flowers growing on a flax plant… known as Harakeke. (Phorium species). Although these flowers do not stand out in the same way flowers from other plants do they are full of pollen and are beloved by some birds. Our native Bellbird and the Tui can sometimes be seen collecting pollen from these unusual flowers.