The originals are over 100megs, 600dpi, & 7000 x 5000 pixels.
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Approximately 10% of New Zealand's landscape is high country covered in tussock grasses. Prominent areas of tussock include the South Islands McKenzie Country and the Central Plateau of the North Island.
Lowland tussock was easily ploughed and sown with introduced grasses, and as a result the plains of the South Island were developed for farming more rapidly than the forest-clad North Island.
Hard tussock (Festuca novae-zelandiae) and silver tussock (Poa caespitosa) are dominant grasses of low-tussock grassland. Blue Poa (Poa colensoi) and Agro-pyrum scabrum become prominent in Otago. Other grasses associated with low tussock are Danthonia pilosa, Danthonia semiannularis, Deyeuxia avenoides, Triodia thomsoni, Poa colensoi.
In the tall-tussock grasslands where red tussock (Danthonia rubra) is dominant, other grasses found are Hierochloe redolens, Danthonia setifolia, and Poa caespitosa. Where snow grass (Danthonia flavescens) predominates in the high altitudes, other grasses are Agrostis dyeri, Deyeuxia avenoides, and species of Trisetum. Although snow grass and red tussock are of little use as food for stock, they are valued for shelter and for protection given to the soil. By means of their roots all grasses help to fix the soil and prevent erosion, and tall tussock can play an important part in this way in mountain areas.
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