Introduction
Overview
New Zealand native shrubs are a diverse group of plants that fill important roles in forests, shrublands, and gardens. They provide food and shelter for birds and insects, stabilize soils, and add structure to natural and designed landscapes. Notable species include Coprosma repens (Taupata), Griselinia littoralis (Broadleaf), and Olearia paniculata (Akiraho). Many native shrubs are valued for their resilience, attractive foliage, and ability to thrive in a range of conditions, making them popular choices for restoration and landscaping projects. Species like Lacebark with its distinctive textured bark and narrow leaves, and Muskwood with its aromatic silvery-grey foliage, add unique architectural elements to gardens. Alpine species like Bush Snowberry , Leatherwood , and Leafy Tree Daisy are particularly hardy, thriving in challenging mountain environments with their distinctive foliage shapes and reliable flowering.
Veronica truncatula
Veronica truncatula
Veronica truncatula, still often listed as Veronica truncatula , is a bushy endemic hebe that grows to about 2 m tall in subalpine scrub of the North Island.
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Veronica urvilleana
Veronica urvilleana
Veronica urvilleana, formerly Veronica urvilleana, is a bushy endemic hebe up to 1.5 m tall named after Rangitoto ki te Tonga / D'Urville Island at the top of the South.
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Veronica quadrifaria
Veronica quadrifaria
Veronica quadrifaria, long known as Hebe cheesemanii and Veronica quadrifaria , is a tiny alpine hebe endemic to the eastern mountains of the South Island.
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Veronica tumida
Veronica tumida
Veronica tumida , formerly Hebe tumida and Leonohebe tumida , is a tiny semi-whipcord hebe endemic to the mountains of the northern South Island.
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Logania depressa
Logania depressa
Logania depressa is an extinct New Zealand subshrub, known only from a single collection made by the missionary botanist William Colenso on 22 February 1847.
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Shawia minor
Shawia minor
Pachystegia minor , now also known as Shawia minor , is the smaller of the Marlborough rock daisies: a slender, spreading shrub under 1 m tall, endemic to coastal and.
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Shawia rufa
Shawia rufa
Shawia rufa , now also called Shawia rufa , is the most restricted of the Marlborough rock daisies.
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Celmisia rupestris
Celmisia rupestris
Celmisia rupestris is a prostrate to straggling woody mountain daisy found only in North-West Nelson, chiefly in Kahurangi National Park around Mt Peel, Mt Glasgow, the.
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Veronica lanceolata
Veronica lanceolata
Veronica lanceolata , formerly Parahebe lanceolata , is a small endemic subshrub of New Zealand stream and river banks.
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Pimelea acra
Pimelea acra
Pimelea acra is a small, compact, erect shrub up to about 45 cm tall, endemic to a handful of old volcanic peaks in northern New Zealand.
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Pimelea buxifolia
Pimelea buxifolia
Pimelea buxifolia is a stiff, much-branched native shrub usually up to about 1 m tall, endemic to the mountains of the North Island.
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Pimelea concinna
Pimelea concinna
Pimelea concinna is an erect, densely branched native shrub up to 0.8 m tall and 50 to 60 cm wide, endemic to the dry hill country of the north-eastern South Island.
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Pimelea gnidia
Pimelea gnidia
Pimelea gnidia is an erect, much-branched native shrub up to 1.5 m tall, smaller on exposed sites, with neat pairs of narrow leaves and clusters of white, rose-flushed.
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Pimelea orthia
Pimelea orthia
Pimelea orthia is a small, bushy, endemic shrub of the upper North Island that grows up to about 90 cm tall, with many erect hairy branches, pairs of small blue-green.
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Pimelea pseudolyallii
Pimelea pseudolyallii
Pimelea pseudolyallii is a low, scrambling shrub of the eastern South Island mountains, found from Marlborough through Canterbury to North Otago.
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Pimelea suteri
Pimelea suteri
Pimelea suteri is a small, much-branched endemic shrub that grows only on ultramafic rock in the South Island, in the Red Hills, on Mt Dun and the Richmond Range in the.
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Pittosporum anomalum
Pittosporum anomalum
Pittosporum anomalum is a small, endemic, divaricating shrub about 1 m tall, made up of many interlacing, zig-zagging twigs with small, narrow, uneven leaves 5-15 mm.
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Pomaderris edgerleyi
Pomaderris edgerleyi
Pomaderris edgerleyi is a low-growing or straggling shrub rarely more than 1 m tall, endemic to Northland from Te Paki south to about Dargaville.
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Neomyrtus pedunculata
Neomyrtus pedunculata
Rōhutu ( Neomyrtus pedunculata ) is an endemic New Zealand shrub or small tree up to 8 m tall and the only member of the genus Neomyrtus in the myrtle family.
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Suaeda novae-zelandiae
Suaeda novae-zelandiae
Sea blite ( Suaeda novae-zelandiae ) is a low, succulent subshrub endemic to New Zealand and one of the few plants that thrives within reach of the high tide.
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Gaultheria colensoi
Gaultheria colensoi
Mountain snowberry ( Gaultheria colensoi ) is a bushy, often sprawling shrub up to about 1 m tall, endemic to the mountains of the central North Island.
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Gaultheria paniculata
Gaultheria paniculata
Gaultheria paniculata is a bushy, erect to sprawling shrub up to about 2 m tall, endemic to open country in the North Island.
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Pomaderris amoena
Pomaderris amoena
Tauhinu ( Pomaderris amoena ) is a small endemic shrub to about 1 m tall, with hairy twigs crowded with tiny narrow, wrinkled leaves 5-10 mm long whose margins roll.
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Shawia coriacea
Shawia coriacea
Shawia coriacea is an endemic tree daisy found only in south Marlborough and North Canterbury, where it grows in shrubland on rocky ground and cliff faces.
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Veronica annulata
Veronica annulata
Veronica annulata , long known as Hebe annulata , is a whipcord hebe endemic to the mountains of Otago and Southland.
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