Perceptions of plants change. Gorse was imported from Britain from the 1830s for farm hedging, but it rapidly took over areas of cleared land and farmland and became a serious weed. More recently, research has shown that gorse is a good nursery plant for native bush. If a gorse-covered hill is left for a few decades, native tree saplings will grow up through the gorse canopy. Eventually the gorse will die in the shade of the regenerating bush.
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Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
Photograph by Melanie Lovell-Smith
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