Giant kauri trees were considered by Māori to be the kings of New Zealand’s forest. The straight-grained wood was prized by Europeans as spars for sailing ships and became popular in …

Before people settled in New Zealand, forest containing kauri covered much of the Coromandel Peninsula and northern areas. Today, the remaining 7,455 hectares of mature kauri forest is …

Kauri forest by Joanna Orwin. Giant kauri trees were considered by Māori to be the kings of New Zealand’s forest. The straight-grained wood was prized by Europeans as spars for sailing …

A kauri tree takes on different forms as it grows and matures. This diagram shows three of the most important stages, from adolescent to mature tree. While young (left), the kauri has a …

For Māori, the tallest trees in the forest traditionally had chiefly status. In the north of New Zealand, kauri held the highest rank. This is reflected in sayings such as, ‘kua hinga te kauri o …

Kauri are among the largest and longest-living trees in the world. This table shows the size of the 10 largest living kauri in 1986. Most of them are in Northland forest, with two (Tānenui and …

The amount of regenerating secondary forest and scrubland containing kauri (estimated at 60,000 hectares) far exceeds that of the remnant mature forest. The places where kauri grow are …

Many forest types contain kauri. These have different features, reflecting soils, terrain, and temperature. Kauri forest is structurally complex, often with 20 different tree species per …

Three men admire the grove of trees known as ‘the cathedral’ in Trounson Kauri Park in the early 20th century. At this time, the timber industry had felled much of the kauri forest in Northland, …

The kauri tree has both male and female cones, formed from overlapping, spirally arranged scales. Male and female cones can grow on the same branch, and cones of different ages are …