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Ohikanui River
The Ōhikanui River is a tributary of the Buller River in New Zealand's South Island. It flows north for , joining the Buller from its outflow into the Tasman Sea. It and its smaller neighbour the '' Ohikaiti River'' are often called the Big Ohika River and Little Ohika River respectively. Another variation is Ohika-nui. Ōhikanui River has been the official name since 21 June 2019. The New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage gives a translation of "place of large incantations" for ''Ōhikanui''. A surveyor named the tributaries to the west of the Ōhikanui River using Greek letters, as Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Eta Creeks. He also named Dumpling Creek after he returned to camp on a cold wet day and was given a dumpling stew. The Ōhikanui River is a tributary consisting of a bouldery river bed and clear swift water. It flows through the paparoa wilderness area which is unaltered (with no tracks or huts), though Buckland Peak Hut is just outside the catchment. The ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paparoa Range
The Paparoa Range is a mountain range in the West Coast Region, West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island. It was the first New Zealand land seen by a European – Abel Tasman in 1642. Part of the range has the country's highest protection as a national park; the Paparoa National Park was established in 1987. Within that park, the Cave Creek disaster occurred in 1995. History The Dutch explorer Abel Tasman was the first (known) European to come to New Zealand (Aotearoa), which he named ''Staten Landt'', and he first encountered it on 13 December 1642. Tasman had 110 men under his command and was travelling with two ships, the ''Heemskerck'' and the ''Zeehaen''. It is believed that the ships were off Punakaiki and if so, it was the Paparoa Range that they saw. Significant coal deposits have been found in the Paparoa Range, with the Blackball Branch, Blackball Branch/Roa Incline and the Rewanui Branch railways built to provide access to the mines. Although these branch lines ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cirque
A (; from the Latin word ') is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie (from Scottish Gaelic , meaning a pot or cauldron) and (; ). A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landform arising from fluvial erosion. The concave shape of a glacial cirque is open on the downhill side, while the cupped section is generally steep. Cliff-like slopes, down which ice and glaciated debris combine and converge, form the three or more higher sides. The floor of the cirque ends up bowl-shaped, as it is the complex convergence zone of combining ice flows from multiple directions and their accompanying rock burdens. Hence, it experiences somewhat greater erosion forces and is most often overdeepened below the level of the cirque's low-side outlet (stage) and its down-slope (backstage) valley. If the cirque is subject to seasonal melting, the floor of the cirque most often forms a tarn (small lake) behind a dam, which marks the down ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ripogonum Scandens
''Ripogonum scandens'', (commonly known as supplejack, Māori: kareao, pirita, translated as ''"twisted rope"'') is a common rainforest vine native to New Zealand. It can also grow in areas of swamp. Supplejack is a climbing liana, that has hard but flexible stems. It starts its life as a sappy stem searching for a support. Once it finds a shrub or tree to cling onto, it grows upwards to access sunlight, where it then develops branches and leaves. The supplejack flowers from December to February. It however bears clusters of red berries throughout the year. During summer supplejack tips grow 5 centimetres a day, enabling the plant to climb high up into the canopy of the forest. Taxonomy In 1769, during explorer Lieutenant James Cook's first voyage of discovery, botanists Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander collected specimens of "supplejack" (''Ripogonum scandens'') in New Zealand. The species was described in Solander's unpublished manuscript ''Primitiae Florae Novae Zelandi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coprosma Robusta
Coprosma robusta, commonly known as karamu, is a flowering plant in the family Rubiaceae that is endemic to New Zealand. It can survive in many climates, but is most commonly found in coastal areas, lowland forests, or shrublands. Karamu can grow to be around tall, and grow leaves up to long. Karamu is used for a variety of purposes in human culture. The fruit that karamu produces can be eaten, and the shoots of karamu are sometimes used for medical purposes. Identification Species description Karamu is a large bushy shrub that grows up to tall. Branches are stout with no hair. Domatia (small holes on the back of the leaf at the intersection of veins) and stipules are significant characteristic features of Coprosmas. Karamu stipules are black, hairless and obtuse with slightly serrated margin that are united at the base Leaves The glossy leaves of karamu range from long, with elliptic-oblong shape and acute or obtuse leaf apex and with obvious veins. Leaves are dark green ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coprosma Autumnalis
''Coprosma autumnalis'' or C. grandifolia according to earlier Colenso authority, (In Māori: kanono or raurēkau) is a native forest shrub of New Zealand. Its widespread in both the North and South Islands, and has the largest leaves of any New Zealand coprosma ''Coprosma'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It is found in New Zealand, Hawaiian Islands, Borneo, Java, New Guinea, islands of the Pacific Ocean to Australia and the Juan Fernández Islands. Description The name ''Copros .... ''Kanono'' is found in wet and shaded forest areas where it can grow to 6 metres high. Its leaves often have a mottled appearance. ''Kanono'' produces ripe orange fruit between February and May, then flowers around April. ''C. autumnalis'' is more commonly known by its earlier name ''Coprosma grandifolia'' References Flora of New Zealand autumnalis Taxa named by William Colenso {{NewZealand-plant-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Weinmannia Racemosa
''Weinmannia racemosa'', commonly called kāmahi, is an evergreen small shrub to medium-sized tree of the family Cunoniaceae. It is the most abundant forest tree in New Zealand, occurring in lowland, montane, and subalpine forests and shrubland from the central North Island south to Stewart Island. Description Kāmahi bears racemes of small, pink or white flowers from July to January. Fruits are small capsules, long, ripening from October to May. Kāmahi generally occurs with other broadleaf trees, at times acting as a pioneer species which is eventually succeeded by the southern beeches (''Nothofagus'' spp.) or podocarps. It reaches or more in the Catlins of the south-eastern South Island. In forests to the west of the Southern Alps it codominates with southern rātā (''Metrosideros umbellata'') and black beech (''N. solandri''). A closely related tree, tōwai or tawhero ('' W. sylvicola''), replaces kāmahi in the North Island north of latitude 38°S. Uses The bark is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dacrycarpus Dacrydioides
''Dacrycarpus dacrydioides'', commonly known as kahikatea (from Māori) and white pine, is a coniferous tree endemic to New Zealand. A podocarp, it is New Zealand's tallest tree, gaining heights of 60 m and a life span of 600 years. It was first described botanically by the French botanist Achille Richard in 1832 as ''Podocarpus'' ''dacrydioides'', and was given its current binomial name ''Dacrycarpus dacrydioides'' in 1969 by the American botanist David de Laubenfels. Analysis of DNA has confirmed its evolutionary relationship with other species in the genera ''Dacrycarpus'' and ''Dacrydium''. In traditional Māori culture, it is an important source of timber for the building of waka and making of tools, of food in the form of its berries, and of dye. When Europeans discovered it in the 18th century they found large remnant stands in both the North and South Islands, despite burning of forest by early Māori. Its use for timber and its damp fertile habitat, ideal for dairy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dacrydium Cupressinum
''Dacrydium cupressinum'', commonly known as rimu, is a large evergreen coniferous tree endemic to the forests of New Zealand. It is a member of the southern conifer group, the podocarps. The Māori name ''rimu'' comes from the Polynesian term ''limu'' which the tree's foliage were reminded of, ultimately from Proto-Austronesian *''limut'' meaning "moss". The former name "red pine" has fallen out of common use. Distribution Rimu grows throughout New Zealand, in the North Island, South Island and Stewart Island/Rakiura. This species is common in lowland and montane forest. Although the largest concentration of trees is now found on the West Coast of the South Island, the biggest trees tend to be in mixed podocarp forest near Taupō (e.g., Pureora, Waihaha, and Whirinaki Forests). A typical North Island habitat is in the Hamilton Ecological District, where '' Fuscospora truncata'' and rimu form the overstory. Associate ferns on the forest floor are ''Blechnum discolor'', ''Bl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metrosideros Robusta
''Metrosideros robusta'', the northern rātā, is a forest tree endemic to New Zealand. It grows up to or taller, and usually begins its life as a hemiepiphyte high in the branches of a mature forest tree; over centuries the young tree sends descending and girdling roots down and around the trunk of its host, eventually forming a massive, frequently hollow pseudotrunk composed of fused roots. In disturbed ground, or where there are gaps in the forest cover, northern rātā will grow on the ground with a normal but short trunk. Distribution Northern rātā is found in the North Island from Te Paki in the north to Wellington in the south. Formerly widespread, it is now uncommon over large parts of its former range, and is apparently absent from all but the south-east of Hawkes Bay. In the South Island, northern rātā is common from Nelson to Greymouth and Hokitika. It reaches its southern limit near Lake Mahinapua at 42°4′ South latitude. The natural habitat is forest along ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cordyline Banksii
''Cordyline banksii'' (forest cabbage tree, ''tī ngahere'') is a monocot tree endemic to New Zealand. The specific epithet ''banksii'' refers to the 18th-century botanist Joseph Banks. Distribution ''Cordyline banksii'' tolerates a wide variety of habitats. It is common in coastal, lowland, and lower montane forests in the North Island, widespread in the northern half of the South Island and Westland as far south as Haast. It has occasionally been reported from coastal Fiordland, but these sightings are unsubstantiated. It also occasionally occurs in subalpine regions in the South Island. In shrublands it occurs with ''Cordyline pumilio'' and may form hybrids with it. Description Tī ngahere is a sparingly-branched cabbage tree up to tall. The leaves are lanceolate (somewhat paddle-shaped), up to long and from wide. The leaves are broad in the mid portion and droop from there. A prominent flat midrib runs the whole length of the leaf. The fruiting panicle is up to 2 met ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Brushtail Possum In New Zealand
The common brushtail possum (''Trichosurus vulpecula'') was introduced from Australia to New Zealand, where it has become a major agricultural and conservation pest. (In Māori it is called paihamu, a transliteration of "possum".) Introduction by European settlers European settlers aiming to establish a wild source for food and fibre and fur pelts for clothing introduced the common brushtail possum from Australia (from Victorian and Tasmanian populations) to New Zealand in the 1850s. Even as late as 1936 the government refused Taranaki Acclimatisation Society permission to introduce a new strain of possums and in 1937 the Waitaki Acclimatisation Society proposed a closed season to allow numbers to recover. The earliest introduction may have been at Riverton/Aparima in 1840. An article in Nature in 1870 warned of the dangers, as did farmers and fruit growers, but some academics supported introduction and the Department of Tourist and Health Resorts was still introducing poss ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stoat In New Zealand
The stoat (''Mustela erminea'') was introduced into New Zealand to control introduced rabbits and hares, but is now a major threat to the native bird population. The natural range of the stoat is limited to parts of the Northern Hemisphere. Immediately before human settlement, New Zealand did not have any land-based mammals apart from bats, but Polynesian and European settlers introduced a wide variety of animals. Rarely, in Southland, the fur of stoats has been reported to turn white, being the fur known as ermine, which adorns royal robes. Introductions of stoats The rabbit was introduced by European settlers as a food and game animal, and by the 1870s it was becoming a serious threat to the newly developed farming economy. Farmers began demanding the introduction of mustelids (including stoats) to control the rabbit plague. Warnings about the dangers to bird life from stoats were given by scientists in New Zealand and Britain, including the New Zealand ornithologist Walter B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
