KAURI & AGATHIS

• Good Kauri drainage don’t tolerate is essential. wet feet. • Don’t plant a kauri too close to the house. They may fill out slowly but they turn into giants. Ta¯ne Mahuta has a girth of almost 14m. • Don’t plant in a windy position. In nature, the trees are protected by surrounding bush until very tall. • Kauri lose their lower limbs as they grow (the juvenile stage can last 100 years). • Agathis is Greek for “ball of string”, referring to the shape of the female cones. All kauri carry both male and female cones. • Kauri are found from Malaysia and the Philippines in the north to Australia and New Zealand in the south, and in Melanesia but not Polynesia. Our kauri ( Agathis australis) is the largest. • Agathis growth is triggered by light and rain rather than seasonal heat and cold. • Seedlings on the forest floor can go into hibernation for up to 60 years, switching to normal growth when light finally reaches them. • Both Maori¯ and Europeans valued the massive, straight kauri trunks for building waka, ship masts and spars, leading to overlogging by the early 20th century.