Aotearoa New Zealand is a hot spot for forget-me-nots (genus Myosotis), with about 50 species found here and nowhere else. Te Papa Botany Curator Heidi Meudt teamed up with botanist Jessie Prebble from Manaaki Whenua, and Massey University scientists Jennifer Tate, Sofie Pearson, and Weixuan Ning to generate and analyse quite a bit of new genetic data to study the taxonomy and relationships of endemic forget-me-nots. Their new paper paints a complex yet compelling picture of how these species have evolved and radiated throughout the mountains of Aotearoa New Zealand, and makes an important contribution to their taxonomic revision.Read more

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Each year, several biology and ecology postgraduate students are co-supervised by Te Papa natural history researchers. One of these students, Weixuan Ning, has completed his PhD at Massey University in Plant Biology. His co-supervisors – Botany Curator Heidi Meudt and Associate Professor Jen Tate – talk about his time as a Massey and Te Papa student, and the mahi he has been involved in.Read more

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Heidi Meudt on the botanical field trip to the "Mainzer Sand", at the “Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology" meeting, the 21st International Symposium of the German Botanical Society (DBG) , Sept. 2012. I am kneeling just behind the European plant species Veronica spicata. Photo by Aaron Liston.

Here are just a few of the many highlights from the two international botany conferences I recently attended: Botany 2012 (Columbus, OH, USA) and  Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology 2012 (German Botanical Society 21st International Symposium, Mainz, Germany). Plant identification goes visual, interactive and mobile Plant identification keys are useful whenRead more

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Leon and Lara in the Te Papa's collections. Photo Carlos Lehnebach.Te Papa

Museums are embracing technologies, such as DNA sequencing, to both enhance understanding of their collections and showcase scientific research to the public.  Many museums around the world now have molecular laboratories.  DNA sequencing has many useful applications for museum research; for example, it can be used to distinguish new species,Read more

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