Zealand Plants Research Articles

Report from New Zealand plant conservation network

Report from New Zealand plant conservation network

Report from New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Report from New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Taxonomic notes on the New Zealand flora: selection of a lectotype for Acrostichum barbarum L. (Osmundaceae)

A lectotype is chosen for Acrostichum barbarum L. from amongst extant Linnaean material. Lectotypes of other basionyms relevant to New Zealand representatives of the fern family Osmundaceae have all been selected previously. This article is a contribution towards clarifying the taxonomic and nomenclatural status of New Zealand plants for the plant names database (Ngā Tipu Aotearoa) and the electronic Flora of New Zealand.

Report from New Zealand plant conservation network

Report from New Zealand plant conservation network

Bidwill of Wide Bay

John Carne Bidwill was born in 1815 in England and died in Queensland in 1853. His short life is relevant to Australia's garden history, botany, the horticultural use of Australian plants in European gardens and the colonial history of Sydney, New Zealand, Wide Bay and Maryborough. He may have been the first to introduce plant breeding into Australia. In a short life, and working in his spare time, he contributed more than many full-time and longer-lived horticulturists. This included discovering new species, crossing new hybrids (specific and inter-generic), and propagating and promulgating plants for the nursery trade and gardeners. His efforts are marked by his name gracing many Australian and New Zealand plants, exotic plant hybrids and modern suburbs of Sydney and Maryborough. This brief biography outlines Bidwill's time in Australasia and Queensland.

Taxonomic notes on the New Zealand flora: lectotypes and excluded taxa in the fern family Polypodiaceae

Lectotypes are chosen for five basionyms relevant to New Zealand representatives of the fern family Polypodiaceae, Dictymia lanceolata J.Sm. ex Hook.f., Polypodium dictyopteris Mett., Polypodium diversifolium Willd., Polypodium novae-zealandiae Baker and Polypodium rupestre var. sinuatum Colenso. Two taxa originally attributed to New Zealand are excluded from the flora, Polypodium viride Gilbert and Polypodium vulgare var. auritum Gilbert. This article is a contribution towards clarifying the taxonomic and nomenclatural status of New Zealand plants for the plant names database (Ngā Tipu Aotearoa) and the electronic Flora of New Zealand.

Report from New Zealand plant conservation network

Report from New Zealand plant conservation network

Report from New Zealand plant conservation network

Report from New Zealand plant conservation network

Ludwigia grandiflora and L. peploides Onagraceae – Water primroses

<i>Ludwigia grandiflora</i> and <i>L. peploides</i> Onagraceae – Water primroses

Report from New Zealand plant conservation network

Report from New Zealand plant conservation network

The role of UV-B radiation in the invasion of Hieracium pilosella—A comparison of German and New Zealand plants

Intensity of ultraviolet-B radiation (UV-B) differs between northern and southern hemispheres. Therefore, exotic plants species that originate from the northern hemisphere provide an opportunity to study the effects of UV-B on plant physiology and growth, and their implications for the role of adaptation and phenotypic plasticity during plant invasion on the southern hemisphere. We conducted a growth-chamber experiment with and without UV-B on Hieracium pilosella plants from Germany, where the species occurs natively and New Zealand (NZ), where it is invasive. We tested the hypothesis that: (i) H. pilosella plants respond to UV-B with high phenotypic plasticity, demonstrating the ability to react to changes in UV-B, and (ii) NZ plants are better adapted to UV-B than German plants as a result of directional selection of well adapted phenotypes. Consistent with our first hypothesis H. pilosella plants reacted plastically to UV-B by producing longer foliar hairs and a higher leaf dry matter content (LDMC) when they were treated with UV-B regardless of their origin. Additionally, irrespective of the treatment, plants from NZ displayed a higher LDMC and grew less but longer leaves than German plants. Plants showed typical stress responses and a reduction in growth caused by the UV-B treatment: below-ground biomass and production of ramets were reduced when plants were treated with UV-B. H. pilosella proved to be particularly well predisposed to grow in areas of high UV-B radiation. Our findings hint at the necessity to consider UV-B radiation in future research on mechanisms of invasions in regions with high UV-B irradiation. Species that provide the ability to respond directly to UV-B might have an advantage to invade these areas. As UV-B intensity is likely to change in the future due to ongoing ozone depletion, research addressing the effects of UV-B during plant invasions is of increasing importance.

Taeniophyllum norfolkianum: a second genus of Vandeae (Orchidaceae) indigenous to New Zealand

Taeniophyllum norfolkianum is recorded for New Zealand from the Waipu Ecological District in Northland. Plants were found on twigs and branches of gorse in retired pasture reverting to indigenous forest. New Zealand plants share with Norfolk Island plants the tri-lobed labellum with prominent apical spine, but differ in their larger, bright yellow flowers, conspicuously papillate penduncle and rachis and smaller plant size. Taeniophyllum norfolkianum brings the number of epiphytic orchid species indigenous to New Zealand to nine.

Report from New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Report from New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Taxonomic notes on the New Zealand flora: Hypericum gramineum and Hypericum involutum (Hypericaceae)

Examination of morphological traits and type specimens confirms that Hypericum involutum is the correct name for the majority of New Zealand plants previously placed in Hypericum gramineum. The type specimen of H. involutum is from Tasmania, and this is conspecific with specimens from New Zealand. Hypericum involutum in New Zealand is characterized by the erect stems branching from the base, terminal dichasial cymes, up to 43 stamens, and a large capsule which conspicuously protrudes beyond the sepals. The type specimen of H. gramineum is from New Caledonia. This species has the main stems branching along their length, terminal and lateral mostly monochasial cymes, fewer than 15 stamens and a small capsule which barely protrudes beyond the sepals. The true H. gramineum is known in New Zealand from three collections and may be naturalized.

Report from New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Report from New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Remote microscopy: a success story in Australian and New Zealand plant biosecurity

AbstractRapid and accurate identification of organisms is crucial to many research and applied outcomes. Diagnostics is a critical first step in determining the significance of suspected biosecurity threats posed by emergency plant pests and other invasive pests and pathogens. Traditionally, the biological specimens needing identification are physically mailed to a dispersed community of taxonomic experts for determination. While effective, this is an expensive, labour‐intensive and slow process, often taking days to receive a confirmed identification. Remote microscopy creates virtual, real‐time networks of experts using web‐based cameras mounted on microscopes that allow interactive access to real‐time images of scientific specimens from anywhere in the world via the Internet. Trials conducted by the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Biosecurity New Zealand to test the efficacy of remote microscopy in plant quarantine settings showed that in Australia a diagnosis to a level at which realistic biosecurity decisions could be made occurred on 77% of occasions, while in New Zealand high impact exotic pest status was determined during 92% of the diagnostic events, and regulatory status was determined during 96% of events. These positive results are leading towards the expansion of remote microscopy throughout Australia, New Zealand and into South‐East Asia, as well as widening its role as part of online diagnostic frameworks.

The conservation status of New Zealand bats, 2009

The New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) is a national system used to assess the risk of extinction faced by New Zealand plants, animals and fungi. The system is specifically designed to be relevant to New Zealand's unusual ecological and geographic conditions. We undertook a re-evaluation of the status of seven bat taxa based on our knowledge of New Zealand bats using revised NZTCS criteria. Five taxa were listed as Threatened or At Risk: one as Nationally Critical (long-tailed bat Chalinolobus tuberculatus ‘South Island’), one as Nationally Endangered (southern lesser short-tailed bat Mystacina tuberculata tuberculata), two as Nationally Vulnerable (long-tailed bat ‘North Island’ and northern lesser short-tailed bat M. t. aupourica) and one as Declining (central lesser short-tailed bat M. t. rhyacobia). One taxon was assessed as Data Deficient (greater short-tailed bat M. robusta) and one (little red flying fox Pteropus scapulatus) as Vagrant. We suspect declines result primarily from predation and competition from introduced mammals, habitat degradation, and disturbance.

Risk posed by the invasive defoliator Uraba lugens to New Zealand native flora

The risk posed to New Zealand native flora by the recently-established pest of Australian origin Uraba lugens Walker (Lepidoptera: Nolidae) (gum leaf skeletonizer) was assessed. Weed biological control host range testing methods were applied to identify those New Zealand plant species potentially at risk. Native plants tested were primarily in the Myrtaceae, the family that contains all the Australian hosts of U. lugens. 2 Experimental methods included no-choice larval feeding assays and field cage and laboratory oviposition trials. Difficulty in ascertaining reliable oviposition preference data from cage oviposition trials limited the confidence with which the invader's field host range could be predicted. 3 Field surveys of plants attacked by U. lugens in the infested area supported the initial predictions but only some of the at-risk native Myrtaceae were present in the area. 4 The risk to native New Zealand plants is presented in terms of two mechanisms: development of self-sustaining populations and temporary spill-over of solitary larvae. Development of self-sustaining populations of the pest within native forests is deemed to be highly improbable. 5 Temporary spill-over impacts are most likely in urban areas within mixed species plantings or boundaries between native/exotic forests and coinciding with the mobile larval life stages. Spill-over impacts from U. lugens have only been recorded to date on Metrosideros excelsa.

Testing species limits of New Zealand Plantago (Plantaginaceae) using internal transcribed spacer (ITS) DNA sequences

Geological and climatic changes, coupled with long-distance dispersals, have resulted in relatively recent origins and radiations of many New Zealand plant lineages. Several have extensive morphological but low genetic variation, rendering taxonomic resolution difficult. This study presents population-level phylogenies and networks for the New Zealand species of Plantago (Plantaginaceae) using DNA sequences from internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of the nuclear ribosomal genes. The data suggest that the two P. spathulata subspecies, and a 16-ploid entity (P. sp. ‘Sylvester’), should be recognized at species rank. However, there was no evidence for divergence of: two P. raoulii forms; P. lanigera and P. novae-zelandiae; and two P. triandra subspecies. Several species and subspecies boundaries require revision with additional data (e.g. chromosome counts, morphological data, and additional DNA loci) needed. The high morphological variation but low sequence divergence found here could be caused by various factors, including incomplete speciation and/or hybridization.

Report from New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Report from New Zealand Plant Conservation Network