New Zealand's native trees are truly remarkable. From the massive kauri – the third-largest tree in the world – the showy pohutukawa and rata, and the ubiquitous cabbage tree to rare and endangered species found only on offshore islands, our glorious and diverse trees deserve to be recognised, understood and celebrated. New Zealand's Native Trees is a landmark book that describes and generously illustrates more than 250 species. Beginning with the magnificent conifers and iconic tree ferns, and giving full treatment to the numerous flowering species, including the distinctive southern beeches, the often-overlooked coprosmas and the curious tree daisies, this book is no once-over-lightly. The text for each species describes every botanical feature in detail, along with habitat, ecology and key relationships with other plants and animals. More than 2000 superb photographs illustrate fascinating close details along with wider views of specimens and habitats. Break-out features reveal the interesting stories of the lifestyles of our trees, answering questions such as: Why do we have so many trees with juvenile forms? How do trees survive in waterlogged environments? Why is rimu so important to the survival of the kakapo? Clear-cut illustrations of leaves are included for each species, arranged in plates for easy identification of larger groups, John Salmon's The Native Trees of New Zealand has been a bestseller for nearly 30 years. This new book, by acclaimed author-photographer team John Dawson and Rob Lucas, takes this ever-popular subject into the 21st century by bringing in evolution, biodiversity and environmental threats. It is a beautiful and essential reference for every New Zealand home, school and library.

Accolades

Winner of New Zealand Post Book Awards: Book of the Year 2012.
Winner of New Zealand Post Book Awards: Illustrated Non-Fiction 2012.
Winner of Nielsen BookData New Zealand Booksellers' Choice Award 2012.

Author Biography

Dr John Dawson was Associate Professor of Botany at Victoria University until his retirement in 1988. Since then he has been undertaking botanical research in New Caledonia, running extension courses on New Zealand native plants, guiding groups around the Otari Native Botanic Gardens in Wellington and writing books. Rob Lucas lectured in horticulture at The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand until his retirement in 2006. He has been photographing plants for many years, and his photographs have been widely published. He is the author of Managing Pests and Diseases: A handbook for New Zealand gardeners and co-author (with Isobel Gabites) of The Native Garden: Design themes from wild New Zealand. John Dawson and Rob Lucas are co-authors of the award-winning Nature Guide to the New Zealand Forest, Lifestyles of New Zealand Forest Plants, Lifestyles of New Zealand Coast and Mountain Plants and The Nature of Plants.