Flora of New Zealand - Characteristics

Characteristics

Indigenous New Zealand flora generally has the following characteristics:{}

• the majority are evergreen.
• few annual herbs.
• few cold-tolerant trees.
• majority are dispersed by birds.
• very few have defences against mammalian browsers.
• few nitrogen fixing plants.
• few fire-adapted species.
• many dioecious species.
• flowers are typically small and white.
• many plants have divaricating growth forms.
• many plants have evolved into a larger forms compared with similar plant families in other countries.