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Pseudopanax lessonii 'Moas Toes' (Moa's Toes Lancewood) - A slow-growing, upright, evergreen dense foliaged shrub to 6 to 10 feet tall, with glossy and leathery, dark green three lobed palmate leaves with the elliptical shaped boldly toothed leaflets that are often flushed with purple and having colorful pale red veins often edged with yellow. Small and inconspicuous greenish white flowers are borne in lowers in irregular umbellules (compound secondary umbels) in summer.
Plant in full coastal sun to light shade in an area with well-drained soil and somewhat protected from wind. It is cold hardy to around 25° F and tolerant of near coastal conditions. This plant makes a nice specimen plant for a narrow and protected spot in the garden with interesting foliage.
The thick leaflets of this cultivar are likened to the toes of a Moa, the huge, extinct, and flightless bird that once roamed New Zealand. It is a selection of Pseudopanax lessonii, often called lancewood or Houmapara. Pseudopanax lessonii is found growing naturally in coastal scrub and forest throughout the North Island of New Zealand. The name for the genus comes from the combination of the Latin words 'pseudo' meaning "false" and 'panax', the early name for the ginseng plant and the specific epithet honors the French doctor, zoologist and botanist René Primevère Lesson (1794-1849) or his younger brother Pierre Adolphe Lesson (1805-1888) as both botanized and collected plants on voyages to New Zealand. This interesting plant came from Kiwi Flora and we received it from PlantHaven in 2018.
Information displayed on this page about Pseudopanax lessonii 'Moas Toes' is based on our research conducted about this plant in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about it as it has grown in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.
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