Tramping with Gregg Fletcher in the Otaki River watershed reveals many ferns where a great many plants big and small struggle for enough light. In Maori cosmology mountains are the embodiment of uha, the female element of creation. In my walks in these Tararua mountains the ferns are the dominant presence of growth, even though these forests are mostly silver beech with an omnipresent supple jack vine that knots through the trees and bush. It is the fancundity of the ferns that grabs the trampers attention at every turn and shapes the creation of this abundant growth here. The fern embodies the gestural creation that is uha in the mountains of the Maori, above the river, rising into the mists and clouds of New Zealand's landscapes.
backlit fern stand
backlit fern
skinny thistle
the epiphyte, kidney fern, one of many filmy fern varieties in NewZealand.
fern on fern on tree fern, filmy fern varieties.
new frond growth
fern on fern in the wet forest, a variety of shield fern.
climbing rata rises up looking for more light, wrapping itself to a tree.
the great fern starts as the koru below and then opens and matures into the great frond above
mamaku koru, of the giant fern tree, look as much to be animal as plant
the giant fern throws up new fronds
an unfurling koru, with a gestural bow to the growth all about it.
whau tree seed pods, a very light weight wood, about half the weight of cork, the Maori used it to float their fishing nets.
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