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Tararua Ranges
The Tararua Range, often referred to as the Tararua Ranges or Tararua, is one of several mountain ranges in the North Island of New Zealand. The Tararua Range runs northeast–southwest for from near Palmerston North to the upper reaches of the Hutt Valley, where the northern tip of the Remutaka Range begins. It is separated in the north from the southern end of the Ruahine Range by the Manawatu Gorge. Most of the Range is wilderness, protected as the Tararua Forest Park. The highest peak in the Tararua Range is Pukeamoamo / Mitre (not to be confused with Mitre Peak) at . Other prominent peaks include Mount Bannister at and Mount Hector at , which is named after the scientist Sir James Hector. Its Māori name is Pukemoumou, or 'hill of desolation'. Geography The Tararua Range is divided into two distinct northern and southern regions. Each of these is dominated by a central mountain peak: Arete in the north and Hector in the south. A total of ten rivers rise on the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wairarapa
The Wairarapa (; ), a geographical region of New Zealand, lies in the south-eastern corner of the North Island, east of metropolitan Wellington and south-west of the Hawke's Bay Region. It is lightly populated, having several rural service towns, with Masterton being the largest. It is named after its largest lake, Lake Wairarapa. The region is referred to as The Wairarapa, particularly when used after a preposition (e.g., locals will say they live "in the Wairarapa", and travel "to" and "from the Wairarapa"). Boundaries The Wairarapa is shaped like a rectangle, about long (from Palliser Bay north to Woodville) and wide (from the Tararua Range east to the coast). The Ngāti Kahungunu tribe's boundary for the region is similar. Their tribal area begins at Pōrangahau and ends at Turakirae. It is the southernmost of their three rohe (homelands) running down the eastern North Island from Wairoa. For the Rangitāne tribe, the Wairarapa is part of a wider homeland that incl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cook Strait
Cook Strait ( mi, Te Moana-o-Raukawa) separates the North and South Islands of New Zealand. The strait connects the Tasman Sea on the northwest with the South Pacific Ocean on the southeast. It is wide at its narrowest point,McLintock, A H, Ed. (1966''Cook Strait''from An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, updated 18-Sep-2007. Note: This is the distance between the North Island and Arapaoa Island; some sources give a slightly larger reading of around , that between the North Island and the South Island. and is considered one of the most dangerous and unpredictable waters in the world. Regular ferry services run across the strait between Picton in the Marlborough Sounds and Wellington. The strait is named after James Cook, the first European commander to sail through it, in 1770. In Māori it is named ''Te Moana-o-Raukawa'', which means ''The Sea of Raukawa''. Raukawa is a type of woody shrub native to New Zealand. History Approximately 18,000 years ago during the Last Gla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ngati Mamoe
''Ngati'' is a 1987 New Zealand feature film directed by Barry Barclay, written by Tama Poata and produced by John O'Shea. Production ''Ngati'' is of historical and cultural significance in New Zealand as it is the first feature film written and directed by Māori. Producer John O'Shea, an icon in New Zealand's film industry, was the founder of independent film company Pacific Films. The film is set in 1948 in a small town on the east coast of New Zealand during the impending closure of a freezing works and the threat of unemployment for the local community. ''Ngati'' was screened as part of Cannes' Critics Week. Synopsis Set in and around the fictional town of Kapua in 1948, Ngati is the story of a Māori community. The film comprises three narrative threads: a boy, Ropata, is dying of leukaemia; the return of a young Australian doctor, Greg, and his discovery that he has Māori heritage; and the fight to keep the local freezing works open. Unique in tone and quietly powerful ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kahikatea
''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 far ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Totara
''Podocarpus totara'' (; from the Maori-language ; the spelling "totara" is also common in English) is a species of podocarp tree endemic to New Zealand. It grows throughout the North Island and northeastern South Island in lowland, montane and lower subalpine forest at elevations of up to 600 m. Tōtara is commonly found in lowland areas where the soil is fertile and well drained. Description The tōtara is a medium to large tree, which grows slowly to around 20 to 25 m, exceptionally to 35 m; it is noted for its longevity and the great girth of its trunk. The bark peels off in papery flakes, with a purplish to golden brown hue. The sharp, dull-green, needle-like leaves are stiff and leathery, 2 cm long. This plant produces highly modified cones with two to four fused, fleshy, berry-like, juicy scales, bright red when mature. The cone contains one or two rounded seeds at the apex of the scales. The largest known living tōtara, the Pouakani Tree, near Pureora in the ce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prumnopitys Taxifolia
''Prumnopitys taxifolia'', the mataī ( mi, mataī) or black pine, is an endemic New Zealand coniferous tree that grows on the North Island and South Island. It also occurs on Stewart Island/Rakiura (47 °S) but is uncommon there. It grows up to 40 m high, with a trunk up to 2 m diameter. The leaves are linear to sickle-shaped, 10–15 mm long and 1.5–2 mm broad. The seed cones are highly modified, reduced to a central stem 3–4 cm long bearing 1-6 scales, each scale maturing berry-like, 10–15 mm long, violet-purple with a soft edible pulp covering the single seed. The seeds are dispersed by the New Zealand pigeon (kererū), which eats the 'berries' and passes the seeds in its droppings. Classification The scientific name ''taxifolia'' derives from the resemblance of the leaves to those of the yew (''Taxus''). In the past the species, like the other species of ''Prumnopitys'', was often included in ''Podocarpus''; in this species under the name ''Podo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rimu
''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'', ''B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tawa (tree)
''Beilschmiedia tawa'', the tawa, is a New Zealand broadleaf tree common in the central parts of the country. Tawa is often the dominant canopy tree species in lowland forests in the North Island and the north east of the South Island, but will also often form the subcanopy in primary forests throughout the country in these areas, beneath podocarps such as kahikatea, matai, miro and rimu. Individual specimens may grow up to 30 metres or more in height with trunks up to 1.2 metres in diameter, and they have smooth dark bark. The Māori word "tawa" is the name for the tree. Tawa produce small inconspicuous flowers followed by 2–3.5 cm long fruit of a dark red plum colour. With such large fruits, tawa is notable for the fact that it relies solely on the New Zealand pigeon (kererū) and (where present) the North Island kokako for dispersal of its seed. These are the only remaining birds from New Zealand's original biota large enough to eat the fruits of this tree and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Podocarps
Podocarpaceae is a large family of mainly Southern Hemisphere conifers, known in English as podocarps, comprising about 156 species of evergreen trees and shrubs.James E. Eckenwalder. 2009. ''Conifers of the World''. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press. . It contains 19 genera if ''Phyllocladus'' is included and ''Manoao'' and ''Sundacarpus'' are recognized. The family is a classic member of the Antarctic flora, with its main centres of diversity in Australasia, particularly New Caledonia, Tasmania, and New Zealand, and to a slightly lesser extent Malesia and South America (primarily in the Andes Mountains). Several genera extend north of the equator into Indochina and the Philippines. ''Podocarpus'' reaches as far north as southern Japan and southern China in Asia, and Mexico in the Americas, and ''Nageia'' into southern China and southern India. Two genera also occur in sub-Saharan Africa, the widespread ''Podocarpus'' and the endemic '' Afrocarpus''. ''Parasitaxus usta'' is un ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kamahi
''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 b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
