Does the plant in the above photo look familiar? That’s probably because the tree in the photo is in the same genus—Sophora—as the kowhai. There are about 45 species of Sophora worldwide, including the toromiro tree from Rapa Nui (Easter Island) shown above. There are eight different species of SophoraRead more
During a recent family holiday to central and southern Chile, I was able to do a bit of botanising. In addition to several plants endemic to Chile, we also saw several with a Pacific connection. First stop was a day trip to the National Botanic Gardens at Viña del MarRead more
On June 25th, Te Papa hosted its annual Senior Science Careers Day. College students from several area schools came to get a glimpse of what it’s like to be a scientist working at Te Papa. Two of us from the Botany team participated in the event: Carlos Lehnebach (Curator) andRead more
As a plant taxonomist, most of my work involves determining how many species are in a particular genus of flowering plants, how they are related to one another, and what the correct scientific names for those species are. To do this, I gather and analyze data from a number ofRead more
My name is Jessie Prebble and I am the current (2009) recipient of the Te Papa MSc Scholarship in Molecular Systematics. I’m studying at Victoria University, looking at the evolution of the plant genus Wahlenbergia in New Zealand and Australia. I’m using various molecular techniques to try to determine howRead more
