Learn about New Zealand’s Native Plants
We’ve created a set of printable cards featuring the native plants we often encounter on our bushwalks and during restoration planting days. Each card is packed with interesting information and fun facts designed to spark curiosity and deepen understanding.
Our goal is to help tamariki overcome ‘green-blindness’—the tendency to see all plants as just a wall of green. By learning to recognise individual species, tamariki begin to appreciate the unique role each plant plays in our ecosystem. These plants provide vital food and habitat for birds, lizards, and invertebrates, and by recognising them, our young people start to see the bush not just as scenery, but as a living, interconnected community.
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.
Our information has been gathered over the years from storytelling in the forest, internet sources, articles, and books. We have tried to fact check and make sure it is accurate, however, if you see something that you think we need to change, please let us know! Also, let us know if we have missed a plant that you feel should be included.
If you love these kinds of facts and want more, we highly recommend Andrew Crowe’s books, ‘Which Native Tree?’ ‘Which Native Forest Plant?’ and ‘Which Native Fern?’. We love these books and carry them with us when exploring the forest. They are fantastic research books for students too. Click HERE to download these cards for printing.
*Note: On a phone, you will need to scroll down through all of the picture cards to find the information cards. On a computer, they should be side by side.
