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.







Some surprising things can become weedy in the sand dunes.






Weeds also caught our attention elsewhere.




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

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.
thanks Leon,
It is wonderful to have your ID of all those tiny plants, and especially helpful to me to confirm what I saw, when doing my write up of the Easter Sunday trip. Lovely colour in all those images too.
Thanks, Julia