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Ake Ake is a small upright colonising tree which grows fast to three metres tall within ten years and up to eight metres. This hardy shrub-like tree develops a spreading conical form with larger reddish branches springing from close to the base of the tree. The thin bark sheds in long flakes, while young branches are green and ‘sticky’ as suggested by the name viscosa. The foliage of thin leaves 4-10cm long is medium green (or red to purple in purpurea), and quite coarsely textured with wavy margins.
Ake Ake (green) blooms yellowish-lime from September to January and is usually dioecious although purpurea with pink-red flowers sometimes exhibits bisexual blooms. The fruit ripens in November through April, as a green pod maturing into a flat brown capsule with two to four papyraceous wings much like sycamore seeds. The capsules become wind-borne but don’t release their few seeds until they land.
Ake Ake is widely distributed from North Cape to Banks Peninsula in the east, and Greymouth in the west, and the Chatham and Three Kings Islands in New Zealand, but is endemic in many tropical and subtropical countries around the world.
It is tolerant of most well-drained soil types and established trees are tolerant of frost and will sustain drought. Ake Ake is light-hungry and produces a gangly form if not satisfied. It enjoys pruning of new wood, and makes good hedging as well as a useful nurse species on coastal sites subject to strong salted winds.
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