These days the majority of New Zealand is covered by grazing land, grasslands and plains that are dominated by tall and low tussock . Fortunately, there remains a great variety of native trees in the mid to lowland forests of Northland, the Coromandel Peninsula, along the west coasts of both islands, around Wellington and on Stewart Island. There are also sixty different endemic native flowering plants in lowland areas, whose blooms mostly range from white to yellow, their relative lack of colour due to the fact that there were no bees to cross-pollinate until the Europeans arrived. Much colour in gardens, parks and mixed forest comes from introduced species such as roses, azaleas and rhododendrons.

New Zealand's best-known tree, the kauri , is found in mixed lowland forest, particularly in Northland . With a lifespan of two to four thousand years, this magnificent king of the forest rises to thirty metres, two-thirds of its height being straight, branchless trunk. Maori canoe-builders treat the kauri with great reverence and have always enacted solemn ceremonies before hacking them down for transformation into giant canoes; European shipbuilders coveted the trees for making ocean-going traders and warships. The tree is also the source of the kauri gum, dug from ancient forests and exported in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

Open spaces along forest edges and river banks are often alive with tui sucking nectar from golden clusters of kowhai , the national flower, which hangs from an eponymous tree whose wood was once fashioned into Maori canoe paddles and adze handles. Another useful tree, the maire stands up to 20m tall and is covered with whitish bark, thick narrow leaves and tiny pink flowers that look like open umbrellas. Its wood is heavy and close-grained, ideal for war clubs, and when burned it gives off very little smoke. Now quite rare, the 30m matai was also once used by Maori as a source of timber for canoe prows and by settlers for buildings; it can be identified by a thick, dark grey bark that flakes off.

North of Banks Peninsula and on the North Island grows New Zealand's only native palm , the nikau , whose slender branchless stem bears shiny leaves of up to 30cm, long pink spiky flowers and red fruit. Early European settlers used to use the berries as pellets in the absence of ammunition.

The pohutukawa is an irregularly branched 20m tree found as far south as Otago, seen in forests around the coast and at lake edges. Bearing bright crimson blossoms from November to January, it's often known as "New Zealand's Christmas tree". Another well-known red-blooming tree is the gnarled rata , found in quantity in South Island forests and in ones and twos around the North Island. It starts out life as a climber, its windblown seeds establishing it high in other trees, and then its aerial roots gradually take over the host, eventually draining it of life.

One native pine which was heavily milled for its timber and yet is still widespread throughout mixed forests is the majestic rimu (red pine), growing to 50-60m with small green flowers, red cones and tiny green or black fruit. Charcoal from rimu used to be mixed with oil and rubbed into tattoo incisions.

A common shade-loving tree found in stands in the forests is the tawa , with a long, thin blackish trunk and spear-shaped leaves. The tree produces black berries which, although initially unpleasant, develop a better flavour some time after picking. Also common throughout the country's mixed forests is the totara , which usually lives for a thousand years and was often used by Maori to make war canoes. The tree's thick brown bark was also used: it peels in long lengths, suitable for weaving baskets.

The ti kouka grows beneath the forest canopy, usually in moist areas and often along the edges of farmland. These 10- to 20m trees with long, thin grey trunks and spear-shaped leaves are also known as "cabbage trees", a reference to the shoots that were eaten by Captain Cook and his men. The tree also produces hundreds of white flowers in spectacular clusters. Below, on the forest floor grow an enormous variety of ferns , many of them hard to tell apart. The most famous, adopted as a national emblem, is the ponga (silver fern). Reaching about 10m in height, it has long fronds that are dull green on top and silvery white underneath.