Choose your tree, or plant, or fern (Flora) that grows at Paparore School.
Find and record the meaning for the words Flora and Fauna.
Flora and Fauna refer to plants and animals from a particular part of a country or area. In the broadest sense of the words, means pretty much all life on earth including trees.
Where did your flora originate from?
New Zealand's iconic Christmas Tree, the pohutukawa, may have originated from Australia, a new study says. A fossil research report from the University of Adelaide published in the American Journal of Botany described the discovery of two new fossil species of pohutukawa and related species.
What is your flora used for?
Pohutukawa is often on festive greetings cards, poems and stories. As well as a cultural symbol, the species has many practical uses. Its hard strong timber was used for ship-building, and parts of the tree were also used medicinally by some of the great Maori tribes.
Does your plant grow anywhere else in NZ?
Over 20 percent of New Zealand is covered in national parks, forest areas and reserves - and these are the best places to observe our native flora and fauna like Pohutukawa tree,Kawakawa tree and much more.
Does your plant grow anywhere else in the world?
yes the natural place for the pohutukawa tree to grow is New zealand and in Australia.
Describe your plants features - leaf, bark, flower’s - ½ paragraphs
My tree is a pohutukawa. The Pohutukawa grows to 20m high with up to a 35m wide crown. The massive spreading crown; wider than tall, moulds to coastal wind and slope and spreads weight over unstable ground. The canopy shelters root systems on bare rock. Seedlings grow faster than older trees, probably like any tree.
7 What is the botanical name of your tree.
Metrosideros excelsa
Insert a photo of you and your plant.
