Flora of New Zealand

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This page relates to the flora of New Zealand.

New Zealand's geographical isolation has meant the country has developed a unique variety of native flora.

Characteristics of New Zealand flora

• majority are evergreen
• few annual herbs
• few cold-tolerant trees
• majority are dispersed by birds
• very few have defences against mammalian browsers
• few nitrogen fixing plants
• few fire-adapted species
• many dioecious species
• flowers are typically small and white
• many plants have divaricating growth forms
• many plants have evolved into a larger forms compared with similar plant families in other countries.
• Article with examples from Bushmansfriend

List of plants

Trees and shrubs

Akeake Beech Bog pine Broom Cabbage tree Coprosma Dracophyllum Five finger Fuchsia Hebes Horopito Kahikatea Kaka Beak Karaka Karo Kauri Kawakawa Kanuka Kapuka Kohekohe Kohuhu Kowhai

Kumaraho Lacebark Lancewood Lemonwood Olearia Ongaonga Mahoe Maire Makomako Manawa (Mangrove) Manuka Matagouri Matai Mingimingi Miro Manoao Neinei Nikau Nothofagus Pittosporum Pohutukawa Puka Putaputaweta

Rangiora Rata Rewarewa Ribbonwood Rimu Silver pine Tanekaha Taraire Tawa Titoki Toatoa Toru Totara Tree daisy Tree nettle Tetrapathaea tetrandra Tutu Yellow pine Whau Whiteywood Wineberry

Ferns

While most of the world's ferns grow in tropical climates, New Zealand hosts an unusual number of ferns for a temperate country. These exhibit a variety of forms, from stereotypical feather-shaped tufted ferns and tree ferns to less typical filmy, leafy and climbing ferns. Both the koru, in the shape of an unfurling fern frond, and the silver fern are widely accepted symbols of New Zealand.

• Silver fern or Ponga, Cyathea dealbata
• New Zealand Tree Fern, Dicksonia squarrosa
• Black Tree Fern or Mamaku, Cyathea medullaris
• Tuokuro, Dicksonia lanata
• Kuripaka, Dicksonia fibrosa
• Prince of Wales fern, Leptopteris superba
• Hound's tongue fern, Phymatosorus diversifolius
• Kidney fern or Raurenga, Trichomanes reniforme
• Hen and chickens fern, Asplenium bulbiferum
• Hanging spleenwort, Asplenium flaccidum
• Mangemange, Lygodium articulatum

Seaweeds

• Neptune's necklace

Liverworts

New Zealand has a greater density of liverworts than any other country, due to its cool, wet and temperate climate. About half the species are endemic to New Zealand.

There are 606 species known in New Zealand. Undescribed species, and those not previously recorded in New Zealand, continue to be found in lowland forests. Ninety species and varieties are listed on the 2001 Department of Conservation threatened plants list, and 157 liverwort species and varieties will be included on the next version of the list as a result of better knowledge of the group.

A three-volume work on liverworts in New Zealand is being written by John Engel and David Glenny, with the first volume due for release in late 2006. The volumes will also be placed online as part of Floraseries.

Other

• Bush lawyer
• Mount Cook lily
• New Zealand flax
• Nikau Palm
• Sphagnum moss
• Supplejack
• Tecomanthe speciosa
• Wood rose

See also

• List of trees of New Zealand

External links

• Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture. Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand.
• New Zealand Plant Names Database
• Bushmansfriend:NZ native plant information