Cabbage tree Earrings

Māori used them as guide-posts and to mark significant sites like urupā. They call them tī kōuka. Over time they’ve been used for food, fibre, medicine, to both start fires, and to resist fire. Captain Cook, and early settlers, brewed beer and other drinks with them.

You’ll find them all through New Zealand, they are instantly recognisable with their spiky leaves.

You may have noticed New Zealand cabbage trees thriving in other parts of the world, such as Devon, United Kingdom (where they’re known as the Torquay Palm), this is because this New Zealand native species are greatly liked due to their tropical palm look, and grow easily in the right climates (which, incidentally are not tropical).

The largest known tree with a single trunk is growing at right here where Stone Arrow is based, in Golden Bay, Tasman, New Zealand (just over the Takaka Hill from Nelson). That tree is thought to be 400 or 500 years old, and is 17 metres high.

Rectangle of up-cycled glass cut from a bottle with an image of the New Zealand Cabbage Tree (Te Kouka), fused onto the surface. Finished with handmade recycled Sterling Silver hooks.

The image is iron fused onto the surface of the glass hence the slight red colour.

Hook length: 19mm (0.75 in), Earring size: 26mm (1 in).