Dodonaea viscosa 'Purpurea'

Dodonea viscosa 'Purpurea', Purple Akeake or Purple Hopbush, is a purple-foliaged cultivar of Dodonea viscosa, one of the most widely spread shrubs or small trees in the Southern Hemisphere. The type species has an enormous geographical range and as a consequence it has an enormous list of synonyms as testimony to botanists' attempt to describe it before it was finally acknowledged that all the geographical variants were one species.

'Purpurea' is a highly ornamental cultivar with foliage that varies from green through light greenish-red to dark purple, the variation sometimes dependent on time of year and the freshness of the growth. The long thin willow-like leaves are not especially exotic but the colour gives it an extra allure.

In New Zealand - where it is known by the Maori name of Akeake - its tough, extremely hard wood was traditionally used for weapons, paddles and digging sticks. The name Akeake is Maori for 'forever and ever' referring to its durability. Early settlers too used it for axe and spade handles. In the New Zealand landscape it is often used as a windbreak or shelter-belt or for stabilising erosion on steep hillsides. In the UK its use is restricted by its inability to withstand a typically severe UK winter and for that reason it is best experimented with in milder parts of the country only: warm sheltered urban micro-climates and south and western coastal locations.

The 'Purpurea' cultivar comes true to seed although colour does tends to vary. It originates from a naturally-occurring sport from the banks of the Wairau River in Marlborough Province.