Blandswood's Giant

It seems I'm becoming a bit of a tree nerd; whilst doing a bit of research into some of the notable trees here in South Canterbury, I discovered that, according to the NZ notable tree register, our local huge totara in Dennistoun Bush is the second largest known totara, only the Pouakani totara in the North Island is known to be bigger.


My tree nerdishness has also led me to discover the 'Champion Tree rating' system. This system, first developed in the 1940's in the States, helps determine the relative size of a tree, taking into account its girth, diameter, where it first branches and its height. It's a way to compare the mass of different species, as well as comparing those of the same species with different characteristics. In our case here in Peel Forest, we have two huge totara - the Blandswood tree, seen here, and the 'Big Tree' up towards Mount Peel. Whilst the latter is taller, the girth of the Blandswoood tree is far greater, meaning it scores a higher champion score.

Another thing I discovered is that the Dennistoun totara is also the largest registered native tree in the South Island, only the Poukanui totara, a Pohutakawa in Wellington and the Kauri in the Waipou forest are larger.

Considered yourself informed! :-)

FYI, I shot the Blandswood totara with my Samyang 8mm Fisheye lens, but forgot to change the manual setting on my X-E1, hence the reason for it showing 12mm.