- IJ
Sidestep: More evidence of South American contact?
Academics do not believe that anyone from South or North American continents travelled into the Pacific. That may indeed be true of the last 1000 years, and while debate over both the Pukeko and Kumara rage on.... can anyone explain the Fuschia plant?
The vast majority are native to South America like the picture on the left above, with a few occurring north through Central America to Mexico. Yet there are several species of fuchsia spread from from New Zealand to Tahiti. One New Zealand species, the kōtukutuku (above) is unusual in the genus in being a tree, growing up to 12–15 m tall. How did a plant native to South America spread across the Pacific? The same way the pukeko and potato did - by people?
The majority of Fuchsia species are native to Central and South America. A small additional number are found in Hispaniola (two species), in New Zealand (three species) and on Tahiti (one species). Oh look! Spain pops up again... how interesting because Spain has some Pohutukawa trees and no one knows how they got there. Did the Spanish get here first? Spaniards visited South America prolifically but not NZ it is said, yet here we have the pukeko, the pohutakawa and the fuchsia in all three locations divided by two of the worlds biggest oceans.
Just some food for thought... well, the potato is anyway, they say to cook a Pukeko you boil in a pot with a brick and when it's done you throw the meat out and eat the brick...
