Kanuka

Value to bees

Nectar

Very high

Pollen

High

As a honey crop

Major honey crop — yields a surplus in good years

Which bees, and why

Worked heavily by honey bees. New Zealand's native bee fauna is small — around 28 species, mostly in the genera Leioproctus and Lasioglossum — and manuka and kanuka are among its principal forage plants.

Worth knowing

An excellent nectar and pollen source across the New Zealand summer.

Flowering

In flower

November to February (southern hemisphere)

Flowers slightly later than manuka and for longer, with the two overlapping — which is precisely why the honeys were confused for so long.

When nectar flows

Heavy and more reliable than manuka, from a plant that is both larger and more abundant.

Year-to-year variation

Substantially more productive per hectare than manuka. Its commercial problem has never been yield; it has been that the market was paying for a different word.

What it does to the honey

Medium amber, sweeter and softer than manuka, with a distinct toffee and dried-herb quality and none of manuka's medicinal bitterness. Many people prefer it as an eating honey.

Growing it

Conditions

Full sun on free-draining soil, and tolerant of poor ground. It is a pioneer species that colonises cleared land readily.

Size

5-15 m tall, considerably larger than manuka, and occasionally to 30 m.

Native range

New Zealand, where it is widespread in regenerating scrub and forest margin.

Suits

Large gardens, Hedgerow

• A pioneer that establishes fast on poor ground and is widely used in New Zealand restoration planting.
• Distinguish it from manuka by feel: kanuka leaves are soft, manuka leaves prickle.
• Not reliably hardy in cold temperate climates.

What it looks like

A small tree with fine, soft, narrow leaves — the practical test against manuka, whose leaves are stiff and prickle when squeezed — and masses of small white flowers with a green centre, borne in clusters rather than singly.