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Overview
Nancy Adams was one of New Zealand’s most prolific botanists, and a talented artist. She produced a vast number of botanical illustrations, which were included in widely-distributed and well-regarded books about New Zealand flora. One of these books is New Zealand Native Trees, a field guide published across two books as part of the ‘Mobil New Zealand Nature Series’.
In her introduction to New Zealand Native Trees (1), Adams provides beautiful and comprehensive descriptions of the three types of New Zealand forest - podocarp-mixed broafleaf, kauri, and beech - suggesting which species of tree may be found there and on which level of the forest they might grow. She also describes the growth of native trees in areas other than the forest, on farmland, riparian areas and coasts, writing:
To make a study of native trees does not mean an excursion to remote and untouched areas of forest. Throughout New Zealand there are many large and small patches and pockets of native vegetation where a number of different trees may be seen.
The 35 species described in this book are illustrated with their own watercolour plates which depict the fully grown tree, the young tree, a branch of adult foliage, and an enlargement of the tree’s reproductive structure (i.e the fruit or seed cones). These helpful visual guides are accompanied by rich and engaging text describing the trees’ appearance, reproductive patterns, and habitat preferences. These descriptions evoke both the precise scientific accuracy and the warm, often whimsical accessibility that was also the hallmark of Adams’ illustrative style.
In her description of the southern rata, she writes:
"SOUTHERN RATA is a smaller tree than the northern rata, and grows up to 20m (65 ft) high. The bark is light grey and papery on the trunk and branches. Old trees in exposed situations are very gnarled, and in mountain areas southern rata may be a small shrub flowering as brilliantly as the larger trees. Both ratas flower in midsummer and may in some years, bear masses of flowers and in others, almost none. The leaves of southern rata are dark green and shiny with long tapering tips. The fruit is a woody capsule. Southern rata grows south of Northland (in certain localities only) and in quantity in South Island forests, especially west of the Main Divide."