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New Zealand's long geological isolation means that most of its flora is unique. There are a wide variety of native trees, adapted to all the various micro-climates in New Zealand. The native bush (forest) ranges from the temperate rainforests of the West Coast, the alpine forests of the Southern Alps and Fiordland to the coastal forests of the Abel Tasman National Park and the Catlins.
In the early period of British colonisation, many New Zealand trees were known by names derived from the names of unrelated European trees, but more recently the trend has been to adopt the native Maori language names into English. For a listing in order of Maori name, with species and family names for most, see the list in Wikipedia Maori (http://mi.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C4%81rangi_r%C4%81kau).
List of species:
- Cyatheaceae & Dicksoniaceae (tree fern families)
- Ponga Cyathea dealbata
- Tuokuro Dicksonia lanata
- Kuripaka or Wheki-ponga Dicksonia fibrosa
- Wheki Dicksonia squarrosa
- Araucariaceae (kauri family)
- Podocarpaceae (yellow-wood family)
- Kahikatea Dacrycarpus dacrydioides (formerly Podocarpus)
- Manoao Lagarostrobos colensoi (syn. Manoao colensoi)
- Matai Prumnopitys taxifolia
- Miro Prumnopitys ferruginea
- Mountain Toatoa Phyllocladus alpinus
- Rimu Dacrydium cupressinum
- Tanekaha Phyllocladus trichomanoides
- Totara Podocarpus totara
- Toatoa Phyllocladus toatoa
- Cupressaceae (cypress family)
- Kawaka Libocedrus plumosa
- Pahautea Libocedrus bidwillii
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