Pohutukawa and Rata: New Zealand's Iron-hearted Trees

P"hutukawa and r t trees are among New Zealand's most beloved and recognisable national icons, symbolising summer, nationhood and our unique natural environment. P"hutukawa and R t : New Zealand's Iron-hearted Trees celebrates these unique trees - their place in the natural world, their importance to M?ori, 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 p"hutukawa and r t , generously illustrated with over 400 archival and contemporary photographs, diagrams, maps and full-colour reproductions of New Zealand artworks.

About the Author

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 - T? Kouka, won the Environment section of the Montana New Zealand Book Awards in 2001.