Totara: A Natural and Cultural History. 2017. illus. (col.). XII, 287 p. 4to. Hardcover.

A wonder of evolution, the big tree of the forest, the wood behind Mori carving and Pkeh fence posts: the mighty ttara is New Zealands tree and this book tells its story. The mighty ttara is one of our most extraordinary trees. Among the biggest and oldest trees in the New Zealand forest, the heart of Mori carving and culture, trailing no. 8 wire as fence posts on settler farms, clambered up in the Pureora protests of the 1980s: the story of New Zealand can be told through ttara. Simpson tells that story like nobody else could. In words and pictures, through waka and leaves, farmers and carvers, he takes us deep inside the trees: their botany and evolution, their role in Mori life and lore, their uses by Pkeh, and their current status in our environment and culture. By doing so, Simpson illuminates the natural world and the story of Mori and Pkeh in this country. Our largest trees, the kauri Tne Mahuta and the ttara Pouakani, are both thought to be around 1000 years old. They were here before we humans were and their relatives will probably be here when we are gone. Ttara has been central to life in this country our story too.