New
Zealand's native bush is well known for the proliferation and variety of native
ferns. There are about 190 species of native ferns found in New Zealand. Most
grow in damp, shady places, such as gullies and valleys.
Ferns vary in size from those only a few centimeters high to 24 m (80 ft). The Black Tree Fern the most common fern, is the tallest fern tree in the world of which the tallest of this species reside in the Coromandel region.
Some tree ferns have woody trunks without branches, topped with clusters of feathery leaves, or fronds. Most ferns, however, have no trunks, and fronds grow directly from a short underground stem.
The Silver fern is a New New Zealand emblem and is used on the shirts of the All Blacks rugby team and the national womans netball team is called the Silver Ferns.
The Koru shape, another New Zealand emblem is an unfurling fern frond and represents the unfolding of new life.
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