Holding the leaves of a shrub in my hand, I stare blankly at them trying to diagnose what separates this plant from all the other species in the bush.
For someone new to the habitat seen in New Zealand it can be a bit overwhelming. As an outsider it all looks like large glossy leaves save for a few obvious New Zealand natives that are planted horticulturally in California. Even then, the scientific names are difficult to remember. More often then not they are genuses that I have never even heard of.
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| Scrambling Pohuehue (Muehlenbeckia complexa) |
Currently everything around me is a green blur. Just shades of green on branches of varying heights and shapes.
Looking away from the shrub in my hand, I see a fern on the ground. I tell myself, "look a fern... at least I know what a fern looks like..."
With this affirmation that I can at least identify the gestalt of some plants, I continue down the path with some positivity.
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| Rose maidenhair fern (Adiantum hispidulum) |
