Pōhutukawa and Rātā New Zealand's Iron-hearted Trees

About this book

Puhutukawa and rata trees are among New Zealand's most beloved and recognisable national icons, symbolising summer, nationhood and the unique natural environment.

"Puhutukawa & Rata: New Zealand's Iron-hearted Trees" celebrates these unique trees--their place in the natural world, their importance to Maori, their role in symbolism, art, and design, and their many remarkable uses--as well as the threat they face today from possums, progress and people.

Containing a wealth of new research, this book really does contain everything you ever wanted to know about puhutukawa and rata, generously illustrated with over 400 archival and contemporary photographs, diagrams, maps and full-colour reproductions of New Zealand artworks.

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Biography

Philip Simpson was raised on a farm and plant nursery in Takaka, where his love of New Zealand's native plants first took root. He studied plant anatomy at Canterbury and in 1968 was awarded a Regent's Fellowship at the University of California, Santa Barbara where he wrote a PhD on the Joshua Tree. He has worked for DOC and is a founding member of Project Crimson. With his wife Wendy he runs a consultancy for ecological services and wine growing. His first book, the best-selling "Dancing Leaves: The Story of New Zealand's Cabbage Tree - Ti Kouka", won the Environment section of the Montana New Zealand Book Awards in 2001.