Kahikatea

Kahikatea

Riccarton Bush is really a forest- one of the last completely natural forest areas that wasn't deforested in the city of Christchurch. It's hard to believe that this province was once covered in such dense, tall trees. The tallest is the Kahikatea. Actually it's the tallest type of tree in New Zealand (currently the tallest one alive is 56 m). The ones in this forest are over 40 m high, and are 300-600 years old. I learned that it's easy to tell the difference between non-native and native trees in the fall and winter- the native ones keep their leaves year round while almost all introduced deciduous species (from Europe) turn colour and lose their leaves.