As part of Science Live: Secret World of Ferns, we want to find out what type of fern you are! If one of the statements below sounds like you, click on it to reveal your secret fern personality… Are you easily embarrassed? Sounds like you’re: rasp fern (Doodia australis).The newRead more
Te Papa’s next Science Live event on Friday 16 May is all about the secret world of ferns, so it seems only right to ask – what is a fern? We want you to tell us (before we tell you). After all, everyone knows more or less what a fern is –Read more
The next Science Live @ Te Papa event on Friday 16 May reveals the secret world of ferns. Join botany curator Leon Perrie live online to find out what makes these Kiwi emblems special. Plus, can you help to make a scientific discovery? Tune into Science Live: Secret World ofRead more
Ferns are an integral part of New Zealand’s environment and culture. Tune in to our Science Live broadcast on Friday 16 May to learn about what makes these Kiwi emblems special. Plus, can you help to make a scientific discovery? Find out about ferns live online with curator Leon PerrieRead more
Do you want to learn more about the animals, fungi, and plants around you? Would you like to help scientists better understand the distribution of New Zealand’s biodiversity? If so, then the citizen-science website NatureWatch NZ is for you. You can find out more about NatureWatch at the Wellington BotanicalRead more
The silver fern is one of the favoured symbols for a new flag. Aside from being one of New Zealand’s icons, the silver fern is a real plant. But being on a nation’s flag deserves a background check – what is the silver fern? It’s also known as ponga (theRead more
I was recently fortunate to be jetboated up the Whanganui River to collect plants. I hadn’t been in a jetboat before, but more significant than the fun of that novelty, it was a wonderful opportunity to get into an area whose botany has been little studied. The Department of Conservation’sRead more
Congratulations to Phil Garnock-Jones on being awarded the Nancy Burbidge medal, for his longstanding and significant contribution to Australasian systematic botany. Phil is the first New Zealander to receive the award, which is the highest bestowed by the Australasian Systematic Botany Society. Systematic botany is the study of the relationships, naming, andRead more
Nearly 50 people are attending this year’s John Child Bryophyte and Lichen Workshop in Ohakune. Bryophytes include mosses and liverworts. The Workshop is a focussed opportunity to study these small plants. Although usually overlooked, they actually make a huge contribution to forest biomass and functioning. Mosses and liverworts reproduce byRead more
Three of Te Papa’s botanists (plant scientists) are currently at the annual John Child Bryophyte and Lichen Workshop, held this year in Ohakune. A small group including the Te Papa team spent the week before the Workshop exploring the Forgotten Highway (State Highway 43) between Stratford and Taumarunui, for mossesRead more
The mining on Denniston has been given the go-ahead by the Environment Court. Radio New Zealand report on the approval of the Bathurst Escarpment mine. The mine application covers just over one square kilometre. According to a report by the Department of Conservation, there are within that area at leastRead more
Te Papa’s biodiversity scientists regularly describe new species of plants and animals. Just added to this list is another New Zealand fern. This new species is a Hymenophyllum filmy fern. Hymenophyllum means thin-leaved. The fronds of most species are only one cell thick, giving them a translucent appearance. We haveRead more
The Wellington Botanical Society has just added* (* actually it is confirmed, rather than added; see update below) another species to the list of native plants known from Wellington – the fern Asplenium lamprophyllum. To find (* rediscover) such a relatively big species so close to New Zealand’s capital city mayRead more
One of the sections in the current incarnation of the Ngā Toi, Arts Te Papa exhibition showcases a selection from Te Papa’s collection of Australian Aboriginal art. The show Gifted: Aboriginal Art 1971 – 2011 includes Papunya Tula paintings created in the 1970’s in a community near Alice Springs withRead more
Alan Reynolds’s Saga is one of the paintings currently on display in Te Papa’s Ngā Toi exhibition. It is described as a winter landscape, with dead plants bursting from the frozen earth. Ngā Toi’s On The Wall description. Amongst the bleakness, my eyes are drawn to just-a-little-right of centre, whereRead more
