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Poa Cita
''Poa cita'', commonly known as the silver tussock, or wī, which is also a Māori name, or by the Māori name , is a grass of the family Poaceae that is endemic to New Zealand. ''Poa cita'' was described and named by Elizabeth Edgar in 1986, having previously being named ''Poa caespitosa''. It is found throughout most of New Zealand, from the Kermadec Islands to Stewart Island / Rakiura and out to the Chatham Islands, but not known from Raglan to Manawatū in the west of the North Island, except on Mount Taranaki Mount Taranaki (), officially Taranaki Maunga and also known as Mount Egmont, is a dormant stratovolcano in the Taranaki region on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island. At , it is the second highest mountain in the North Island, afte .... It grows to 0.3–1.0 metres tall, and sometimes hangs as much as 2 metres long down steep banks. It has very fine, narrow leaves, usually 1–1.5 millimetres and up to 2.5 millimetres wide. Leaf width varies throu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elizabeth Edgar
Elizabeth Edgar (27 December 1929 – 1 January 2019) was a New Zealand botanist, best known for her work in authoring and editing three of the five volumes of the series ''Flora of New Zealand'', which describes and classifies the species of flora of the country. She was most noted for her taxonomic work on the biodiversity of New Zealand and was recognised as the foremost authority on nomenclature and description of the country's plants. Early life Edgar was born on 27 December 1929 in Christchurch, New Zealand, and grew up in Spreydon with her two sisters. Her family were some of the first European settlers of New Zealand and her aunt, Marion Liddell Fyfe, was the first female lecturer in zoology at the University of Otago. She was educated at Rangi Ruru Girls' School in Merivale, and, encouraged by her mother, then attended Canterbury University College. Edgar graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in classics in 1950 and continued her studies while working as a library assi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Māori Language
Māori (; endonym: 'the Māori language', commonly shortened to ) is an Eastern Polynesian languages, Eastern Polynesian language and the language of the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. The southernmost member of the Austronesian language family, it is related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan language, Tuamotuan, and Tahitian language, Tahitian. The Māori Language Act 1987 gave the language recognition as one of New Zealand's official languages. There are regional dialects of the Māori language. Prior to contact with Europeans, Māori lacked a written language or script. Written Māori now uses the Latin script, which was adopted and the spelling standardised by Northern Māori in collaboration with English Protestant clergy in the 19th century. In the second half of the 19th century, European children in rural areas spoke Māori with Māori children. It was common for prominent parents of these children, such as government officials, to us ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Poaceae
Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns and pasture. The latter are commonly referred to collectively as grass. With around 780 genera and around 12,000 species, the Poaceae is the fifth-largest plant family, following the Asteraceae, Orchidaceae, Fabaceae and Rubiaceae. The Poaceae are the most economically important plant family, including staple foods from domesticated cereal crops such as maize, wheat, rice, oats, barley, and millet for people and as feed for meat-producing animals. They provide, through direct human consumption, just over one-half (51%) of all dietary energy; rice provides 20%, wheat supplies 20%, maize (corn) 5.5%, and other grains 6%. Some members of the Poaceae are used as building materials ( bamboo, thatch, and straw); oth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of island countries, sixth-largest island country by area and lies east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and south of the islands of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. The Geography of New Zealand, country's varied topography and sharp mountain peaks, including the Southern Alps (), owe much to tectonic uplift and volcanic eruptions. Capital of New Zealand, New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, and its most populous city is Auckland. The islands of New Zealand were the last large habitable land to be settled by humans. Between about 1280 and 1350, Polynesians began to settle in the islands and subsequently developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight and record New Zealand. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kermadec Islands
The Kermadec Islands ( ; ) are a subtropical island arc in the South Pacific Ocean northeast of New Zealand's North Island, and a similar distance southwest of Tonga. The islands are part of New Zealand. They are in total area and uninhabited, except for the permanently staffed Raoul Island Station, the northernmost outpost of New Zealand. The islands are listed with the New Zealand outlying islands. The islands are an immediate part of New Zealand, but not part of any region or district, but instead an ''Area Outside Territorial Authority''. Toponymy The islands were named after the Breton captain Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec, who visited the islands as part of the d'Entrecasteaux expedition in the 1790s. The topographic particle "Kermadec" is of Breton origin and is a lieu-dit in Pencran in Finistère where '' ker'' means village, residence and ''madec'' a proper name derived from '' mad'' (which means 'good') with the suffix '' -ec'', used to form adjectives indicati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stewart Island / Rakiura
Stewart Island (, 'Aurora, glowing skies', officially Stewart Island / Rakiura, formerly New Leinster) is New Zealand's third-largest island, located south of the South Island, across Foveaux Strait. It is a roughly triangular island with a land area of . Its coastline is indented by Paterson Inlet (east), Port Pegasus (south), and Mason Bay (west). The island is generally hilly (rising to at Mount Anglem) and densely forested. Flightless Birds of New Zealand, birds, including penguins, thrive because there are few introduced predators. Almost all the island is owned by the New Zealand government, and over 80 percent of the island forms Rakiura National Park. Stewart Island's economy depends on fishing and summer tourism in New Zealand, tourism. Its permanent population was recorded at 408 people in the 2018 New Zealand census, 2018 census. Most residents live in the settlement of Oban, New Zealand, Oban on the eastern side of the island. Ferries connect Oban to Bluff, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chatham Islands
The Chatham Islands ( ; Moriori language, Moriori: , 'Misty Sun'; ) are an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean about east of New Zealand's South Island, administered as part of New Zealand, and consisting of about 10 islands within an approximate radius, the largest of which are Chatham Island and Pitt Island, Pitt Island (''Rangiauria''). They include New Zealand's easternmost point, the Forty-Fours. Some of the islands, formerly cleared for farming, are now preserved as Protected areas of New Zealand, nature reserves to conservation in New Zealand, conserve some of the unique flora and fauna. The islands were uninhabited when the Moriori people arrived around 1500 CE and developed Nunuku-whenua, a peaceful way of life. In 1835, members of the Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Tama Māori iwi from the North Island of New Zealand invaded the islands and Moriori genocide, nearly exterminated the Moriori, slavery, enslaving the survivors. In the period of European colonisation, the New ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raglan, New Zealand
Raglan ( or ) is a small beachside town located west of Hamilton, New Zealand on New Zealand State Highway 23, State Highway 23. It is known for its surfing, and volcanic black sand beaches. History The Ngāti Māhanga iwi occupied the area around Raglan in the late 18th century. There are at least 81 archaeological sites in the area, mainly near the coast. Limited radiocarbon dating puts the earliest sites at about 1400AD. The Māori people named the site ("the long pursuit"). One tradition says that Tainui (canoe), Tainui priest, Rakataura, crossed Whāingaroa on his way to Kāwhia. Another says it was among the places the early Te Arawa explorer, Kahumatamomoe, with his nephew Īhenga, visited on their expedition from Maketu, Maketū. The first Europeans to settle in the area, the Rev James and Mary Wallis, Wesleyan missionaries, were embraced and welcomed by local Māori in 1835. European settlement, including large scale conversion of land to pasture, began in the mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mount Taranaki
Mount Taranaki (), officially Taranaki Maunga and also known as Mount Egmont, is a dormant stratovolcano in the Taranaki region on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island. At , it is the second highest mountain in the North Island, after Mount Ruapehu. It has a secondary cone, Fanthams Peak (), , on its south side. Name The name ''Taranaki'' is from the Māori language. The mountain was named after Rua Taranaki, the first ancestor of the iwi (tribe) called Taranaki, one of several iwi in the region. The Māori word ''tara'' means mountain peak, and ''naki'' may come from ''ngaki'', meaning "clear of vegetation." It was also named ("ice mountain") and ("hill of Naki") by iwi who lived in the region in "ancient times". Captain Cook named it Mount Egmont on 11 January 1770 after John Perceval, 2nd Earl of Egmont, a former First Lord of the Admiralty who had supported the concept of an oceanic search for '' Terra Australis Incognita''. Cook described it as "of a prodig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
