Learn about New Zealand's Native Plants
This free resource was produced by the educators at Kids Greening Taupō. Click on the link on the left to visit their website, where you can download the PDF file with the printable cards for 45 native plants, including colour photos, ID tips and interesting facts.
About the Resource
We have made these printable cards for all of the plants that we regularly talk about on bushwalks, or when doing restoration plantings. They are full interesting information and fun facts. We are trying to lift the veil of ‘green-blindness’ for our tamariki. This means that instead of seeing everything as just ‘green plants’, they start to be able to differentiate between different species. We hope that they will start to understand that each plant has a unique place in our ecosystem and provides food and habitat to different species of birds, lizards, and invertebrates.
We love getting tamariki using their senses to identify plants, so we’ve mentioned some of the edible species, and the way that some plants feel or smell. We have also tried to give you tips on how to identify plants using their leaves, bark, flowers, fruit, or seeds. Please take care to correctly identify any plants that you eat, as some plants can make you very unwell.
We have mentioned ways that many plants were used traditionally by Māori or by early European settlers. Of course, many of these plants are still used regularly for these purposes, particularly in rongoā Māori.
