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Story: Trees in the rural landscape

Cabbage trees in a paddock

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Cabbage trees in a paddock

About 20 years after European settlement the forested lowlands of the west coast of the North Island had been cleared of trees and sown into pasture. These cabbage trees are the sole reminder that this land was once covered in native forest. Cabbage trees can resprout after fire and seedlings sometimes manage to survive along grazed watercourses. This paddock is on a farm between Marton and Whanganui.

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Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

by Melanie Lovell-Smith

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How to cite this page

Maggy Wassilieff, Trees in the rural landscape – Native trees on farms, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/19718/cabbage-trees-in-a-paddock (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Maggy Wassilieff, published 1 March 2009.