A new softback edition of this modern classic of our most renowned tree, the totara. A wonder of evolution, the big tree of the forest, the wood behind Maori carving and Pakeha fence posts: the 'mighty totara' is New Zealand's tree and this book tells its story. The 'mighty totara' is one of our most extraordinary trees. Among the biggest and oldest trees in the New Zealand forest, the heart of Maori carving and culture, trailing no. 8 wire as fence posts on settler farms, clambered up in the Pureora protests of the 1980s: the story of New Zealand can be told through totara. Simpson tells that story like nobody else could. In words and pictures, through waka and leaves, farmers and carvers, he takes us deep inside the trees: their botany and evolution, their role in Maori life and lore, their uses by Pakeha, and their current status in our environment and culture. By doing so, Simpson illuminates the natural world and the story of Maori and Pakeha in this country. Our largest trees, the kauri Tane Mahuta and the totara Pouakani, are both thought to be around 1000 years old. They were here before we humans were and their relatives will probably be here when we are gone. Totara has been central to life in this country for thousands of years. This book tells a great tree's story, and that is our story too.

About the Author
Philip Simpson is a botanist and author of Dancing Leaves: The Story of New Zealand's Cabbage Tree, Ti Kouka (Canterbury University Press, 2000) and Pohutukawa and Rata: New Zealand's Iron-hearted Trees (Te Papa Press, 2005).


Book Information
ISBN 9781869409067
Author Phillip Simpson
Format Paperback
Page Count 300
Imprint Auckland University Press
Publisher Auckland University Press