Washington Park Arboretum

New Zealand High Country Exhibit

 

History

The New Zealand Exhibit is located at the southeast end of the Arboretum. It was a gift from Seattle's sister city committee in Christchurch, New Zealand. The exhibit is a miniature recreation of Arthur's Pass on the South Island of New Zealand and was dedicated in 1993 by the New Zealand ambassador to the United States. Because the Puget Sound climate is vastly different from New Zealand's, where rainfall is evenly distributed throughout the year and winters are warmer, the WPA display from down under concentrates on plants from areas of alpine and subalpine scrub that are hardy here. The planting was designed to mimic the appearance of a subalpine tussock grassland, with a trail wandering through a small mountain pass framed by large granite boulders. The large rocks are Bandera granite collected from the Cascade mountains of Washington. The gravel mulch is decomposed granite.

 

Flora of New Zealand

The flora of New Zealand is one of the most unique and varied in the world. New Zealand is located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, isolated from other large land masses. It was originally part of the great sourthern land mass called Gondwana, attached to Australia, South America and Africa. This land mass broke apart millions of years ago and new Zealand has been isolated since. The vast majority of New Zealand plants are unique to New Zealand. Of the 1800 species native to New Zealand, 1329 (75%) are endemic, i.e. they are found nowhere else in the world. The flora of New Zealand shows similarities to both Australia and South America. Many species are found only in New Zealand and Australia, others only in New Zealand and South America. Although New Zealand is only 1000 miles from Australia, most of the dominant plants of Australia are absent. For example, Eucalyptus are the most abundant plants in Australia, but totally absent from New Zealand. Although 104 plant families are represented in New Zealand, the Daisy family, the Compositae, is by far the largest with 261 species. This is 15% of all New Zealand plant species.

 

Selected Plants

Many of the plants of the New Zealand exhibit are described below. For a larger picture of the selected plants, click on the thumbnails.
 
Not Pictured
 Aristotelia fruiticosa, a 5 foot tall shrub with very showy berries, is commonly called Mountain Wineberry and is found only in New Zealand. The berries are edible and were used by early colonists to make wine.
Cassinia leptophylla, Cottonwood or Tauhinu, is a New Zealand endemic shrub that is found in many habitats, from coastal scrub to subalpine woodland. The plant shown here was grown from seed collected on Mt. Cargill in New Zealand.
Chionochloa conspicua, Plume tussock grass, is an important component of alpine and subalpine habitats in New Zealand.
Cordyline australis, which is the Ti-kauka or Cabbage tree, is common in many situations, from swamps to barren hillsides. It is the best known of all New Zealand plants and was very important to the Maori. The central bud and the young leaves were eaten, and the leaf fiber was used extensively for weaving into sandals, baskets and sieves.
Griselinia littoralis is commonly called Broadleaf and is a small tree found only in New Zealand's mountain forests and subalpine scrub. It is a tree valued for its durable timber.
Not Pictured
Hebe canterburiensis. There are about 80 species of Hebe in New Zealand. This one is very dainty with white flowers.
Hebe ochracea. One of the "whipcord" Hebes, in which the leaves are reduced to scales like conifers. Native to the New Zealand south island. It has interesting golden colored foliage.
Hebe pinguifolia 'Pagei' is a native of the South Island. It is a low shrub growing to about 1 foot high and 2-3 feet across with blue-gray foliage and clusters of white flowers in May.
Not Pictured
Leptospermum scoparium, the Teatree, is one of the commonest shrubs in New Zealand. Its wood was used for paddles, spears and rods. Medicinally, the Teatree was used to soothe burns, quiet coughs and cure dysentery.
Olearia illicifolia, Hard-leaved tree daisy, forms a rounded shrub to about 5 feet tall with white daisy-like flowers in summer. It grows in both mountain and subalpine areas.
Phormium cookianum, Mountain flax, is a large herbaceous plant with long strap-like leaves commonly growing in the scrublands from sea level to 3500 feet. Fiber that was scraped from the leaves was used to make thread for weaving.