Leon Perrie

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Would you mine a rare population?

21 April 2013 – 2.28pm

The Escarpment Mine on the Denniston Plateau has been tentatively approved by the Environment Court, subject to suitable mitigation plans. One of the issues that may be under consideration is what to do about the site’s population of the Sticherus tener umbrella fern.

Scoop news report: “…tentative nod for Denniston mine plan”.

Sticherus tener has a conservation ranking in New Zealand of Nationally Critical. That is as rare as you can get without being extinct.

The umbrella fern Sticherus tener at a site within the planned Escarpment Mine on the Denniston Plateau. Photo Leon Perrie. © Te Papa.

Destroying a population of a species so threatened in New Zealand has to be weighed against the economic benefits of the proposed mine. Of course, the Denniston area’s natural values are far greater than this one fern species. A factor in any consideration specific to Sticherus tener is that it is common in Australia. In that context, it is similar to the white heron or kōtuku (Ardea modesta), which graces our $2 coins. The white heron is also Nationally Critical in New Zealand, but Secure Overseas. Would New Zealanders accept a development destroying part of the white heron population in New Zealand?

Our paper detailing the status of Sticherus tener in New Zealand has just been published. Sticherus tener was known in New Zealand only from one 1980s record from Fiordland. Department of Conservation staff have recently made additional records from Fiordland. Furthermore, Te Papa’s botanists realised that some of the plants in the Stockton and Denniston areas are actually Sticherus tener.

Abstract from the New Zealand Journal of Botany.

Email me if you would like a pdf of the paper.

Te Papa’s collections of Sticherus tener, with more photos.

Our paper also recognises Sticherus urceolatus in New Zealand for the first time. Sticherus urceolatus is closely related to Sticherus tener, and also is Nationally Critical in New Zealand while being common in Australia. Sticherus urceolatus occurs at Stockton (but not Denniston), near Takaka, and apparently in Fiordland.

Te Papa’s collections of Sticherus urceolatus, with more photos.

The umbrella fern Sticherus urceolatus at Stockton. The frond segments of this species arise at a pronounced angle, while those of Sticherus tener are close to 90 degrees. Other differences are detailed in our paper. Photo Leon Perrie. © Te Papa.

Populations of Sticherus tener and Sticherus urceolatus in the northern South Island had previously been mistakenly attributed to Sticherus flabellatus. We now believe that Sticherus flabellatus does not occur in the South Island, but it is common in the northern North Island. When the Denniston population was erroneously attributed to Sticherus flabellatus, an issue for the proposed mine was the destruction of a population at the southern limit of a species common in New Zealand. The correct identification of the Denniston population as Sticherus tener, Nationally Critical in New Zealand, makes the conservation implications for the proposed mine more serious.

Te Papa’s collections of Sticherus flabellatus.

It was an internet photo that first alerted me to the possibility of Sticherus at Denniston being more complicated that everyone thought. I was trying to find more information about Denniston for our 2012 field work surveying for the then-undescribed Gleichenia inclusisora tangle fern; this Naturally Uncommon species also occurs at Denniston. I came across a report containing a photo from Denniston labelled “Sticherus flabellatus”. I was immediately sure that the photo did not show Sticherus flabellatus, but instead some other species of Sticherus. However, determining the correct identity as Sticherus tener took several more months. This involved a revision of existing herbarium specimens from the northern South Island that were labelled “Sticherus flabellatus” (all actually either Sticherus tener or Sticherus urceolatus), DNA sequencing, and field work to visit the sites ourselves.

Blog post on our 2012 field work in the South Island, targeting Sticherus and other ‘problem’ ferns.

Blog post on the recently described new species of tangle fern, Gleichenia inclusisora.

Interestingly, the Forest and Bird-organised BioBlitz of the Denniston Plateau in 2012 did not detect Sticherus tener. That this medium-sized fern was missed by such a concerted effort to document the area’s biodiversity is a cautionary indicator of how difficult it is to make well-informed land management decisions.

Forest and Bird’s BioBlitz at Denniston.

Posted in Biodiversity, Collections Online, Ferns, Field trips, Plants | Tagged conservation, court, development, environment, ferns, mining, rare, Sticherus, threatened species, umbrella fern, white heron | Comments (3)

The amazing longfin eel

19 April 2013 – 9.28am

This week the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment released a report on the status and management of the longfin eel. It was entitled “On a pathway to extinction?” The report found that the management of longfin eels by New Zealand government agencies was inadequate and failing. It further recommended the cessation of commercial fishing of longfin eels.

The Commissioner’s report.

A longfin eel. This female hasn't bred yet, and she will do so only once, after swimming to somewhere between New Caledonia and Fiji. Photo (c) Alton Perrie.

A longfin eel, in a stream near Thames. This female hasn’t bred yet, and she will do so only once, after swimming to somewhere between Fiji and New Caledonia. Photo (c) Alton Perrie.

Longfin eels (Anguilla dieffenbachii; tuna is Maori for eel) are amazing animals. They breed only once and then die. The adults found in New Zealand’s waterways have yet to breed. When mature, which may take 80 years, they swim to somewhere between Fiji and New Caledonia to find a mate. The prospect of finding a mate in a far-flung ocean presumably becomes less likely as numbers decline because of human impacts. After breeding, the adults die. The young larvae then drift back to New Zealand, and make their way upriver. The amount of suitable habitat for eels in New Zealand is now much decreased.

The Commissioner highlighted this unusual lifecycle as complicating the management of eels.

The Department of Conservation rates the threat status of longfin eel as “At Risk/Declining”, while the Ministry for Primary Industries allows the annual commercial harvest of more than 100 tonnes of longfin eel. The inability to reconcile these two facts is at least partially behind the Commissioner’s call to stop the commercial fishing of longfin eels.

Earlier this year, Te Papa’s NatureSpace hosted the Travelling Tuna Tapestry project. The aim of this project was to inspire children to be interested in the conservation of the longfin eel. The tapestry grew during its travels around New Zealand as children contributed panels; one panel came from visitors to NatureSpace.

A Department of Conservation site about the Travelling Tuna Tapestry.

Many New Zealanders will be concerned that an endemic New Zealand species is effectively being managed to extinction. According to the commissioner, “Longfin eels need urgent help from the agencies that are responsible for their management and protection.” How will those agencies respond? Will they do enough to get the longfin eel off its pathway to extinction?

Posted in Biodiversity, Fish | Tagged conservation, eels, environment, fishing, tuna | Comments (1)

How to learn ferns

15 April 2013 – 8.27am

Last weekend I was out with the Kapiti-Mana branch of Forest and Bird, giving them an introduction to ferns. A few weeks back, I gave a similar walking-talk at Otari-Wilton’s Bush in Wellington. Many people find ferns an appealing group to learn. Aside from their iconic status in New Zealand, good learning resources are available, and there are enough different New Zealand ferns to be a challenge without being overwhelming. Most forested sites in New Zealand will be home to between 20 and 50 species of fern.

Te Papa’s online guide to Common New Zealand ferns.

Te Papa’s online guide to New Zealand tree ferns.

When teaching people how to identify a fern plant, I stress that there are four characteristics to initially look for:

1) does it have reproductive structures? Fern reproductive structures occur on the underside (or margins) of the frond. The shape (e.g., round versus elongate into lines) and position (i.e., on the margin or away from the margin) are important. Related ferns almost always have similar reproductive structures, even if their fronds look completely different.

Different groups of ferns are characterised by their reproductive structures, which can come in many forms. Clockwise from top left: 1) Polystichum; shield ferns. The reproductive structures are aggregated into round patches. Each of the black spheres is a sporangium (plural = sporangia), the capsule that produces the spores (in Polystichum, there are 64 spores in each sporangium). A distinct cluster of sporangia is called a sorus (plural = sori). In many ferns the sori are partially covered by protective tissues, called indusia (singular = indusium). In Polystichum, the indusia are round, giving rise to the common name of shield fern for this group. 2) Cardiomanes; kidney fern. The sori occur on the margins and arise from tubular indusia. 3) Gleichenia; tangle ferns. Two or three sporangia (the yellowish dots) occur on the underside of each frond segment. 4) Hypolepis; pig ferns. The sori are on the margin of the frond and are partially protected by the inrolled margin of the frond. 5) Asplenium; spleenwort ferns. The sori occur in lines away from the margin, and are arranged in a ‘herring bone’ pattern. 6) Pteris. The sori line the margins of the frond. Photos Leon Perrie, montage © Te Papa.

The nature of the reproductive structures can be critical for identifying a fern. If I happen upon a fern I don’t know and it does not have reproductive structures, I do not bother attempting to identify it. If you’re learning ferns, I recommend you do the same.

2) does it have scales or hairs or is it naked (glabrous)?

There are two major groups of tree ferns in New Zealand: Cyathea tree ferns are scaly, whereas Dicksonia tree ferns are hairy. Photos Leon Perrie, © Te Papa.

Close up of the scales of Cyathea (left) and the hairs of Dicksonia (right). Photos Leon Perrie, © Te Papa.

Hairs are only one cell wide, but this can only be checked with a microscope. As a general rule, if you can’t decide whether something on a fern is a scale or a hair, call it a scale if it is obviously wider than your own hairs.

3) how divided is the frond? It might be undivided (= “simple”), or once divided, or twice divided… etc.

Loxogramme dictyopteris, lance fern, has undivided/simple fronds. Asplenium oblongifolium, shining spleenwort, has once divided fronds. Asplenium bulbiferum, hen & chickens ferns, has three-times (or nearly so) divided fronds. Photos Leon Perrie, montage © Te Papa.

4) are the fronds tufted, or do they arise along a creeping rhizome (modified stem)?

Blechnum discolor, crown fern, has tufted fronds. Right: In Arthropteris tenella, the fronds arise at intervals along a creeping rhizome; several creeping rhizomes can be seen as brown lines up the tree trunk. Photos Leon Perrie, montage © Te Papa.

Left: Blechnum discolor, crown fern, has tufted fronds. Right: In Arthropteris tenella, the fronds arise at intervals along a creeping rhizome; several creeping rhizomes can be seen as brown lines up the tree trunk. Photos Leon Perrie, montage © Te Papa.

Noting these features will help you identify a fern. These features are what I make sure I record when I am collecting and/or photographing ferns.

The Kapiti-Mana Forest and Bird trip was to Mangaone Walkway near Waikanae. Below are the ferns we discussed. Several of them already feature in:

Te Papa’s online guide to Common New Zealand ferns.

Blechnum novae-zelandiae, kiokio. Most Blechnum species have different looking fertile (top left) and sterile fronds. Fertile Blechnum fronds are usually reduced to narrow segments, which are green when young, black when the spores are mature, and brown after the spores have been shed. Most Blechnum species also have only once-divided fronds. Photo Leon Perrie. © Te Papa.

Blechnum fluviatile, creek fern. Photo Leon Perrie. © Leon Perrie.

Blechnum discolor, crown fern. Photo Leon Perrie. © Te Papa.

Blechnum colensoi, Colenso’ hard fern. Photo Leon Perrie. © Te Papa.

Blechnum colensoi, Colenso’s hard fern. Photo Leon Perrie. © Te Papa.

Cyathea smithii, kätote. A scaly tree fern. Has a distinctive skirt of dead frond stalks. Photo Leon Perrie. (c) Leon Perrie.

Dicksonia squarrosa, whekï. A hairy tree fern. Photo Leon Perrie. © Leon Perrie.

Asplenium flaccidum, hanging spleenwort. Usually grows from tree trunks. Photo Leon Perrie. © Leon Perrie.

Asplenium bulbiferum, hen & chickens fern. This looks very different to the hanging spleenwort, but they have the same arrangement of their reproductive structures, reflecting their close relationship. (They commonly form (sterile) hybrids.) Photo Leon Perrie. © Te Papa.

Microsorum pustulatum, hound’s tongue fern. Photo Leon Perrie. © Leon Perrie.

Hymenophyllum revolutum. Filmy ferns have very thin leaves, and many look translucent. There are three principal groups in New Zealand: Hymenophyllum, Trichomanes, and Cardiomanes. Most Hymenophyllum species have their reproductive structures enclosed by two separate flaps. Photo Leon Perrie. © Leon Perrie.

Trichomanes venosum. In Trichomanes, the reproductive structures are enclosed by a tubular, often trumpet-like structure. Photo Leon Perrie. © Te Papa.

Cardiomanes reniforme, kidney fern. More closely related to Hymenophyllum than Trichomanes, although the reproductive structures are at least superficially more similar to the latter. Photo Leon Perrie. © Leon Perrie.

Leptopteris hymenophylloides, single crape fern. The sporangia are spread over the frond underside rather than being clustered into sori of regular shape and size. The frond is translucent like a filmy fern. Photo Leon Perrie. © Te Papa.

Tmesipteris elongata, a fork fern. More closely related to ferns than to seed plants or lycophytes. Nevertheless, the relationship is a distant one, and it doesn’t look very fern like. There are at least five species in New Zealand, and they are usually epiphytic on tree ferns. Photo Leon Perrie. © Te Papa.

Lycopodium volubile. A lycophyte rather than a fern. Ferns are more closely related to seed plants than they are to lycophytes, but ferns and lycophytes share a similar mode of reproduction. The leaves of lycophytes are only small, and the leaves bearing sporangia are often clustered into distinct ‘cones’, which are the pendulous, brown structures in this image. Photo Leon Perrie. © Leon Perrie.

Posted in Biodiversity, Ferns, Plants | Tagged botany, ferns, learning, New Zealand, Plants, teaching | Comments (2)

The small and the weedy: Foxton field trip

2 April 2013 – 3.14pm

I spent a couple of days of the long weekend with the Wellington Botanical Society, exploring the Foxton area, between Whanganui and Palmerston North. Much of the first and second days were spent in the sand dunes between Himatangi and Foxton Beach, and at Koitiata near Turakina.

A huddle of prostrate people peering intently at the ground; can only mean a botanical society has fixated on some small plant. Photo © Leon Perrie.

Many of the plants in the wetter parts of the dunes are very small. This is mudwort (Limosella lineata). Photo © Leon Perrie.

Arrowgrass, Triglochin striata, is not actually a grass, and belongs to the unusual monocot family Juncaginaceae. The arrangement of the flowers and the narrow leaves are distinctive. Photo © Leon Perrie.

Intermixed Selliera rotundifolia, with the round leaves, and Lilaeopsis novae-zelandiae, with the jointed linear leaves. Selliera rotundifolia is only found in the south-west of the North Island. Photo © Leon Perrie.

The tiny Isolepis basilaris is distinctive in holding its inflorescences amongst its leaf bases, near ground level; see just below the image’s centre. Immediately behind are the small, oval leaves of Myriophyllum votschii. To the rear are the green oval fruit of Selliera rotundifolia, whose leaves flank the image’s left and right. Photo © Leon Perrie.

The dunes are also home to larger plants. This is the sand daphne (Pimelea villosa). It has a conservation status of Declining because of ongoing damage to sand dunes and apparent seed-set failure. Photo © Leon Perrie.

Close-up of the flowers of sand daphne. With its abundant hairs, it is easy to see the relevance of the recently reinstated species name, villosa (= covered with soft hairs). This was previously known as Pimelea arenaria. Photo © Leon Perrie.

Some surprising things can become weedy in the sand dunes.

Formosum lily (Lilium formosanum), from Taiwan, is abundant in the dunes around Foxton Beach. A pretty problem. Photo © Leon Perrie.

Formosum lily (Lilium formosanum), from Taiwan, is abundant in the dunes around Foxton Beach. A pretty problem. Tree lupin (Lupinus arboreus), with yellow flowers, is the bush behind and is also a weed. The orange stems in the foreground belong to the native knobby club rush (Ficinia nodosa). Photo © Leon Perrie.

An exotic Fuchsia in the sand dunes at Koitiata, near Turakina. Just one or two plants were seen. Does anyone know what species/cultivar of Fuchsia this is? Photo © Leon Perrie.

One plant of what I think is French lavender (Lavandula stoechas) in the Koitiata dunes. © Leon Perrie.

The ‘Red Apple’ cultivar related to Aptenia cordifolia (thanks to Colin Ogle for the identification), from South Africa. This is in the same family as our native iceplants. A couple of patches of Aptenia ‘Red Apple’ were established next to a garden-discard site in the dunes at Koitiata. Photo © Leon Perrie.

Pumpkin had also self-established next to the Koitiata garden-discard site. Several fruit were harvested, albeit for nutrition rather than science. Photo © Leon Perrie.

A few plants of the aristea iris (Aristea ecklonii) were found in the Koitiata sand dunes. The species is already a menace in Northland, and hopefully it doesn’t become as abundant in the southern North Island. Photo © Leon Perrie.

Weeds also caught our attention elsewhere.

The abundant pom-pom daisy heads of wavy leaved fleabane (Conyza bonariensis) caught my eye in the carpark of Round Bush/Omarupapako, where it was growing in the gravel with the related broad leaved fleabane (Conyza sumatrensis), which I’m more familiar with. Photo © Leon Perrie.

Wavy leaved fleabane (Conyza bonariensis) has larger daisy heads than broad leaved fleabane (Conyza sumatrensis). Additionally, the inflorescence bracts of wavy leaved fleabane are tipped red, which can be clearly seen in the image, compared to green in broad leaved fleabane. Photo © Leon Perrie.

The botanical society did not progress far through the tangled swamp forest vegetation of Round Bush/Omarupapako Scenic Reserve. However, we went far enough to encounter karaka (Corynocarpus laevigatus) and to debate its merits in the southern North Island, where some people consider it to be weedy. The large trunk at centre is a podocarp, while the trunk to the immediate left is a tall and reproducing but not particularly old karaka. Karaka seedlings are evident in the foreground. Photo © Leon Perrie.

Water purslane (Ludwigia palustris), at Lake Koitiata, was new to me. I identified it using David Glenny’s Key to Flowering Plant Genera of New Zealand. Photo © Leon Perrie.

David Glenny’s (Landcare Research) Key to Flowering Plant Genera of New Zealand.

We found the exotic ferny azolla (Azolla pinnata) at Lake Koitiata. Normally this floats, but it had become marooned in the mud with the summer-lowered water levels. This is only the fourth record of this invader in the southern North Island. Photo © Leon Perrie.

How to distinguish the native Azolla rubra from the weedy Azolla pinnata, and how you can help track their distributions.

Botanical Society trips are a great way to learn how to distinguish plants. I certainly learnt a lot during this trip, and thanks to all those who took part and shared their knowledge.

Contact details for local botanical societies in New Zealand.

Posted in Biodiversity, Field trips, Plants | Tagged Foxton, Plants, sand dunes, weeds, Wellington Botanical Society | Comments (2)

A name change for strap ferns

28 March 2013 – 2.11pm

I recently co-authored a paper with Barbara Parris that investigated the scientific classification and naming of New Zealand’s strap ferns.

If you’ve spent any time in New Zealand’s forests, you will have almost certainly seen the common strap fern. It has simple, undivided fronds up to 20 cm long, but usually much less. It is widespread and can be abundant, growing at the base of tree trunks or on the ground, usually amongst mosses and liverworts. The other species are less frequently encountered.

Abstract of our paper in the New Zealand Journal of Botany.

Email me if you would like a pdf of our paper.

A cluster of individuals of common strap fern, Notogrammitis billardierei, previously known as Grammitis billardierei. Photo Leon Perrie. (c) Leon Perrie.

Reproductive structures on the frond underside of Notogrammitis billardierei. Photo Leon Perrie. (c) Te Papa.

The 10 species of strap ferns in New Zealand have been classified in the genus Grammitis. All have small, simple, undivided fronds, and their reproductive structures are in a herring-bone pattern on the underside of the fronds. Although related, the comb fern differs from the strap ferns in having a lobed frond, and it was placed in a different genus, Ctenopteris, as Ctenopteris heterophylla.

Comb fern, Notogrammitis heterophylla, previously known as Ctenopteris heterophylla. Photo Leon Perrie. (c) Te Papa.

Barbara had hypothesised that the New Zealand strap ferns and comb fern were misclassified in both Grammitis andCtenopteris. After looking closely at their external structures, she considered them to be closely related to one another but to be distantly related to the ‘true’ Grammitis and Ctenopteris (which are defined by the first species named as such). DNA analyses that I conducted supported Barbara’s hypothesis.

This left the New Zealand strap ferns and comb fern without a genus name, so Barbara coined Notogrammitis; noto being Greek for southern, and Grammitis being the genus in which the New Zealand strap ferns were previously (mis-) classified.

Notogrammitis also occurs in Australia, South America, South Africa, and many of the sub-Antarctic islands. There are 12 species in total, with 11 found in New Zealand (four of these are only found in New Zealand, while seven also occur elsewhere). However, our DNA results suggest there are almost certainly more species than currently recognised.

Te Papa’s collections of Notogrammitis.

Fortunately, the name change is simple for most species, with Notogrammitis being substituted for Grammitis (or Ctenopteris). For example, Grammitis billardierei and Grammitis pseudociliata have become Notogrammitis billardierei and Notogrammitis pseudociliata, respectively. However, there are a couple of discrepancies to watch for. Firstly, Grammitis magellanica has become Notogrammitis angustifolia. This is because although angustifolia is the oldest relevant species name, it could not be used for this New Zealand strap fern when it was classified in Grammitis as the combination Grammitis angustifolia had already been used for a completely different species. Secondly, Grammitis poeppigiana has become Notogrammitis crassior. This is because the type specimen of Grammitis poeppigiana actually belong to the species now called Notogrammitis angustifolia, and the species name crassior is the earliest that is based on a type specimen that actually belongs to the species we have previously (mistakenly) called Grammitis poeppigiana. Straightforward, huh?!

Changes to scientific names (should) reflect improved understanding of species’ evolutionary relationships. Although we might grumble about having to learn new names, it is the stark reality that current scientific classifications are still far from accurately portraying evolutionary history. In this case, the species in New Zealand are not closely related to true Grammitis, which have fronds with black margins and occur in the Pacific Islands, Africa, Madagascar, and the New World, or Ctenopteris, which is actually an older (and therefore not to be used) name for Prosaptia. Expect many more name changes as evolutionary relationships are determined with ever more accuracy.

Posted in Biodiversity, Ferns, Plants | Tagged classification, dna analyses, ferns, Grammitis, names, Notogrammitis, phylogenetics, taxonomy | Comments (0)

Learn ferns in Wellington

17 March 2013 – 11.15am

Are you interested in learning more about ferns, and in the Wellington region?

Te Papa’s Curator of Botany Leon Perrie is leading a walk through the fernery at the wonderful Otari-Wilton’s Bush: Sunday 24th March 2013, beginning 2pm from the Otari Information Centre.

More details.

Loxsoma cunninghamii, in cultivation at Otari-Wilton’s Bush. This is the only species in the genus Loxsoma, and it is only found in New Zealand, where it grows naturally in the northern North Island. Photo Leon Perrie.

Posted in Biodiversity, Ferns, Field trips, Plants | Tagged ferns, learning, Otari-Wilton's Bush, Wellington | Comments (0)

Guide to Fijian tree ferns

26 February 2013 – 12.28pm

An abundance of tree ferns is one of the botanical characteristics that New Zealand shares with many of the larger Pacific Islands. The number of different species is not especially high, but tree fern individuals feature prominently in many Pacific and New Zealand landscapes.

Following my work in Fiji, I’ve produced an online guide to Fiji’s tree ferns. Pictures and diagnostic tips should help distinguish the different species. This complements our existing online guide to New Zealand’s tree ferns.

Online guide to Fiji’s tree ferns.
Online guide to New Zealand’s tree ferns.

I hope the Fijian tree fern guide will be useful to tourists interested in Fiji’s biodiversity, and to locals managing these plants as a resource.

Cyathea lunulata, recognisable by its pale scales and frond stalks. The most prominent tree fern in the Fijian lowlands. Photo by Leon Perrie. (c) Te Papa.

Cyathea lunulata is a good species to initially learn, as it is the most obvious tree fern in the lowlands of Fiji. It also occurs on other Pacific Islands. In fact, most of the tree ferns in Fiji also occur somewhere else, meaning this guide has some applicability to places like Samoa, Vanuatu, Tonga, and the Cook Islands (but not to New Caledonia, which has its own distinct set of tree ferns).

All of the photos in the online guide are high resolution, and you should be able to ‘zoom in’ on them. However, technical limitations of our website currently prevent this. If you want to see this fixed, leaving a comment below may help prioritise the development of Te Papa’s website.

Posted in Biodiversity, Collections Online, Ferns, Field trips, Pacific, Plants | Tagged Cyathea, Dicksonia, ferns, Fiji, New Zealand, Pacific, tree ferns | Comments (1)

Fern stamps

11 February 2013 – 4.28pm

New Zealand Post has just released a series of postage stamps featuring five New Zealand ferns. The illustrations are excellent.

Images of the stamps, from New Zealand Post’s website.

More images from the designer’s website.

The five ferns featured are:

hen and chickens fern, Asplenium bulbiferum – $0.70
kidney fern, Cardiomanes reniforme – $1.40
Colenso’s hard fern, Blechnum colensoi – $1.90
umbrella fern, Sticherus cunninghamii – $2.40
silver fern, Cyathea dealbata – $2.90

Colenso’s hard fern , Blechnum colensoi. P023538. Te Papa.

All five featured species are endemic to New Zealand. That is, they are indigenous only to New Zealand. This is in the context of about half of New Zealand’s nearly 200 indigenous fern species being also indigenous to somewhere else in the world (mostly south-eastern Australia).

Silver fern (ponga) should need no introduction, being New Zealand’s sporting emblem. Hen and chickens fern (manamana) is common in wetter forests, but it is a look-alike, the false hen and chickens fern, that is common in gardens. Kidney fern is very distinctive and rather un-fern like! It is a filmy fern but has no close relatives. Its previous classification in Trichomanes has been shown to be wrong and some place it in Hymenophyllum; we retain it in Cardiomanes. Umbrella fern also has an atypical growth form, with its stems repeatedly forking. Colenso’s hard fern is restricted to wet, (and usually) cold sites.

Kidney fern, Cardiomanes reniforme. P023548. Te Papa.

Te Papa’s specimens, with maps and photos, of:

More information on the false (or cultivated) hen & chickens fern.

Te Papa’s Patrick Brownsey, who wrote the book New Zealand Ferns and Allied Plants, short-listed candidate species for the stamp issue, and helped the designer source authentic material. They visited Kaitoke, near Wellington, to see living plants of these species. Patrick also wrote the text for the presentation pack.

If you are interested in learning more about New Zealand’s ferns, you might find the following Te Papa links useful:

Common New Zealand ferns.

New Zealand tree ferns.

Posted in Biodiversity, Ferns, Plants | Tagged ferns, New Zealand Post, stamps | Comments (0)

More tangle – a new species of tangle fern

1 February 2013 – 11.00am

I’d like to introduce a new species of New Zealand fern, Gleichenia inclusisora. Our scientific description was published just before Christmas 2012. The recognition of this species edges the number of native New Zealand fern and lycophyte species nearly to 200.

Abstract of paper describing Gleichenia inclusisora.

Email me if you would like a pdf of the paper.

Te Papa’s list of New Zealand ferns and lycophytes.

Frond underside of Gleichenia inclusisora. The white and flattish frond segments are one of its distinctive features. The undersides of the frond segments of Gleichenia dicarpa are whitish but pouched, while those of Gleichenia microphylla are flat but green. Photo Leon Perrie. © Te Papa

The specific part of the name, inclusisora, refers to the reproductive structures (the sori) being embedded (included) in a pit within the frond. In other New Zealand Gleichenia species, the reproductive structures sit on the surface of the frond undersides.

Close-up of the frond underside of Gleichenia inclusisora. The reproductive structures (sori) each comprise three sporangia (which produce the spores, the yellow dots) embedded in a pit in the frond. Some empty pits are visible. The distinctive rounded, bicoloured scales can also be seen at top left. Photo Leon Perrie. © Te Papa.

Blog post with an image close-up of the distinctive scales of Gleichenia inclusisora.

Except when very young, the lower stems of Gleichenia inclusisora are usually naked of scales or hairs, in contrast to the other Gleichenia species in New Zealand. Photo Leon Perrie. © Te Papa.

Except when very young, the lower stems of Gleichenia inclusisora are nearly naked of scales or hairs, in contrast to the other Gleichenia species in New Zealand. Photo Leon Perrie. © Te Papa.

All four Gleichenia species presently recognised in New Zealand can grow together, to the extent of intertwining. Gleichenia inclusisora most commonly co-occurs with Gleichenia dicarpa. Gleichenia inclusisora (right) often has a shinier upper surface, usually allowing the two species to be distinguished at a distance. However, this doesn’t always work as well as it does in this photo! Photo Leon Perrie. © Te Papa.

Tangle fern is the common name in New Zealand for Gleichenia ferns, and they are so-called because their long, repeatedly-dividing stems grow tangled with one another and other plants.

The new species has a number of features that easily distinguish it from the other Gleichenia species in New Zealand. So why has it not being recognised until now? Well, like their growth-form, their taxonomy (classification and naming) is also tangled, being confusing and neglected. The recognition of Gleichenia inclusisora is easy enough, but more study of the other New Zealand Gleichenia is required, particularly the separation between what we currently call Gleichenia dicarpa and Gleichenia microphylla, as well as on the diversity evident within Gleichenia dicarpa.

Blog post on how Gleichenia inclusisora was first discovered.

Te Papa’s collections, with maps and photos, of:

Gleichenia alpina.

Gleichenia dicarpa.

Gleichenia inclusisora.

Gleichenia microphylla.

We suggested Gleichenia inclusisora have a conservation ranking of Naturally Uncommon. It has a scattered distribution, with living populations known from Coromandel and along the South Island’s West Coast. . You’re most likely to encounter it in the Westport-Greymouth area, where populations can be locally extensive.

Distribution map of Gleichenia inclusisora based on Te Papa’s collections.

But please look out for this distinctive species elsewhere; it is quite possible that populations remain to be discovered. Leave a comment below, or email me.

Our description of Gleichenia inclusisora is part of an intensive revisionary effort as we write an eFlora for New Zealand’s ferns and lycophytes. This will comprise a detailed digital guide to these plants. Work in progress will see the number of native ferns and lycophytes recognised in New Zealand top 200 within the next few years; we already know of several more new or otherwise currently unrecognised species.

Some of the eFlora treatments already available for New Zealand ferns:

Osmundaceae (including Leptopteris).

Microsorum.

Lygodiaceae and Schizaeaceae.

Blog posts about other new ferns we have described recently:

Lastreopsis kermadecensis.

Tmesipteris horomaka.

Posted in Biodiversity, Ferns, Plants | Tagged botany, classification, fern, Gleichenia, new species, tangle fern, taxonomy | Comments (2)

Wild plants in town – a homage

17 January 2013 – 4.04pm

Plants can grow in what appear to be the strangest places. This can be frustrating for property owners (e.g., grass in the gutter; footpaths cracked by pohutukawa roots).

But our view of plants is often from our own animal-centric perspective; unlike our zoological kin, an individual plant doesn’t have the option of moving to a better spot. Wherever a seed or spore falls is going to be the home of that plant for the rest of its life; that is, of course, if it even germinates at all. Grow, wherever you end up, or perish.

Consider these observations that have been extracted, with permission, from a ‘zine’ (a zine is a self published, inexpensively produced publication with a small circulation) published by “jMj”:

Growing wild in Wellington

my homage to plants that take root as they choose in our city

jMj 2012

I love the way plants grow
all over the place.
Weeds, I read once,
are ‘plants out of place’.
But, who’s to say?
Who’s to say?
Image © to and courtesy of jMj.

Breaker Bay
Taupata.
High on the
just find yourself a place
and grow achiever list.
At times flat across the ground
shaped by the wind.
Here
All spritely
In the gutter.
Image © to and courtesy of jMj.

Epuni Street
My first flat was here.
This is so Epuni Street for me,
this dear, bright, hopeful flower
at the mouth
of a dark damp cave.
Image © to and courtesy of jMj.

Epuni Street
Aerial roots
a source of
endless fascination for me.
What am I taking in
from the air
just by
being in it.
Image © to and courtesy of jMj.

Pohutukawa are

not native to this region.

They say.

Tell that to the pohutukawa.

Above Strathmore.
6” Coastal battery
on the Hills above Strathmore
70th Heavy Battery
Guns. Not much beside remains.
Taupata -
6” too?
Image © to and courtesy of jMj.

Queen’s Wharf
You can look at the boats
and the buildings
the planes coming in and out
and the sculptures.
And then down, ankle height, here’s this fern, shining
from light rain.
Image © to and courtesy of jMj.

What do you see in the plants in these images? Are they ‘battlers’ to be admired for making what they can of a bad situation? Or are they a reminder that plants would quickly envelop our urban world if we stopped pushing them back?

Thanks very much to jMj for sharing these observations and the colour photos – the zine itself is in black and white.

If you’d like to share with Te Papa’s blog your own images of plants growing in unusual places, here’s my email.

Finally, if you haven’t already seen, here’s a lancewood that went straight to the top (and please excuse the pejorative title).

Posted in Art, Biodiversity, Photography, Plants | Tagged Plants, Wellington, zine | Comments (7)

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