New Zealand: kohurangi

You can find old pictures of people with outstretched arms encircling the base of Tāne Mahuta but that’s no longer possible. Out of concern that the roots were getting trampled, the tree’s caretakers have planted vegetation around it to act as a shield (and also to restore native species to the area). Here in front of Tāne Mahuta you see the flowers of what the Māori call kohurangi and English speakers know as a tree daisy; botanists have yet another name, Brachyglottis kirkii.

© 2017 Steven Schwartzman