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A: Manuka honey comes from New Zealand, where bees visit the flowers of the manuka bush, Leptospermum scoparium.

In New Zealand, manuka honey comes solely from the nectar of a plant known as Leptospermum scoparium, commonly called a manuka bush.

They say the Australian bushes in the genus Leptospermum are so closely related to the New Zealand bush as to be nearly indistinguishable, noting that until about 65 million years ago, Australia and New Zealand were part of the same landmass and shared the same species.

"The great Australian writer Patrick White issued this challenge in his poem Nine Thoughts from Sydney, an appropriate selection perhaps for a senator from New South Wales. He wrote: Where is the politician who will flower like the leptospermum citrata, Who will sound like the surf out of the Antarctic. Who has in his hands the knots of coolibah, And in his soul the tears of migrants landing from Piraeus?"

Shown in photo gallery above: The box is about 2 feet by 3 inches and contains peach branches, ranunculus, anemones, larkspur, leptospermum, wax flower, ivy and pittosporum, $400 plus tax and delivery.