10 top native plants

It’s sometimes hard to imagine that our country was once covered in native forest comprising thousands of plant species, from the lush rainforests of the West Coast to the majestic podocarp forests of the east coast.

Sadly, many of these ecosystems no longer remain today but our plants, trees, ferns, grasses, perennials and mosses are among the most diverse and interesting on the planet, with 70 percent or more of them unique to Aotearoa.

Māori have lived with a deep connection to the country’s plant life, which has sustained, healed, clothed and sheltered them for centuries. But early settlers longing for a taste of home introduced many foreign species, which changed the landscape considerably.

Not surprisingly, the plants of Aotearoa have long been prized by botanists, gardeners and horticulturalists around the world. In my travels,