Welly's Hungry Botanist

06/10/2026

This was a neat new plant for me a few weeks ago. Anaphalioides subrigida is an indigenous paper daisy that grows on base-rich cliffs, made of substrates like limestones, papa siltstone, and mudstone. It can be found throughout the centre of the North Island, from around Kawhia and Gisborne to the Manawatu and Wairarapa.

It's quite similar in general appearance to other Anaphalioides, particularly A. trinervis, but can be distinguished by its thin leaves and 'candelabriform' growth (I actually didn't make up that word!).

Species like this give a hint to how organisms not just adapt to their environment, but also actively shape it in a dialectical fashion. Millions of years ago, shellfish (like a cockle I found in this cliff), lived in abundance on shallow seafloors. As the generations passed, their shells accumulated, and they were buried by silt from the land nearby. More recently, uplift forced them upwards, making their graveyards into land. Because these shells are made of Calcium carbonate, the substrate is imbued with bicarbonate and hydroxide ions, making it basic (or alkaline).

Basic soils are really difficult for most plants to grow in, because these basic ions bind to metals, making it difficult for roots to absorb them. Due to this, most plants find it difficult to grow in these types of soils. Plants like A. subrigida, that specialise in growing in these soils, either have to make do with fewer nutrients or have to be particularly good at absorbing what they can. In return, they get habitat with very little competition - a gift, from multi-million year old molluscs.

04/10/2026

This is Ustilago spinificis, a native s**t fungus that grows only on grasses in the Spinifex genus.

In Aotearoa, it grows exclusively on kōwhangatara (Spinifex sericeus), our only indigenous member of this genus.

U. spinificus grows on the inflorescences of Spinifex. In these pictures, it's growing on the female flowers, but it also grows on male flowers, creating fairly different-looking structures. It misshapes infected flowers, in this case making them grow on long stalks that protude well out from the inflorescence, which presumably makes them better at dispersing its spores.

U. spinificus is also native to Australia (Western Australia and Victoria). It's pretty common both here and there, but is underreported, presumably because not many people even know it exists! Just like any other species in Aotearoa, it adds to the complex web of interactions that makes up our ecoregion.

02/10/2026

Earlier this year I was lucky enough to find Simplicia felix, a very rare endemic grass.

S. felix was very recently described in 2016, having only been found accidentally shortly before then. It's very, very rare, being found only in a few square metres, and is classified as Threatened - Nationally Critical.

Most populations of S. felix are found in the understorey of podocarp forests in basic soils like limestone, siltstone and mudstone. Most are also found in the North Island, in the general area of the Rangitikei and Wairarapa. It's also found in one location in North Otago.

It's definitely worth looking for if you're in that area and habitat! I found this one near Taihape growing among the roots of a tōtara.

Also... check out the wikipedia page I wrote for this cool plant! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simplicia_felix

29/09/2026

I recently went on a pelagic! In birder-speak, this is a birding trip on a boat that goes out into the open ocean to see seabirds.

The highlights were three different albatross species (pictured), blue petrels, and a thin-billed prion, as well as about 15 other species.

Here I have a bullers albatross, a white-capped albatross, a black-browed albatross, a blue petrel, and a thin-billed prion, in that order.

24/09/2026

This is Thelymitra nervosa - the spotted sun orchid. It's a very pretty plant, that's easily identified from other Thelymitra's by the spotted, rounded petals and sepals, the yellow poster anther lobe and densely white hairy column arms.

It's endemic to Aotearoa, found in the North, South, Stewart, and Chatham Islands. It's believed to have originated as an allopolyploid hybrid between Thelymitra longifolia and Thelymitra ixioides.

This individual is a particularly special one. T. nervosa usually flowers from October to December, whereas this plant was flowering on September the 11th. Because this was one of my masters study species, I can say for a fact that this is the earliest flowering event of its species on record. While I didn't have enough data to establish a long-term trend for this species, earlier flowering is to be expected for most species with rising temperatures and El Niño.

Thelymitra only flower when the conditions are just right - the temperature has to be high enough, and usually the sun has to be touching the petals. In this case, we arrived after the sun had gone behind a cloud and the flower had closed. I got this photo by encouraging it open by blowing warm air on it.

15/09/2026

Lepidium is a globally distributed genus, probably best known for its weedy components. But here in Aotearoa, our native Lepidium are rare almost as a rule, usually threatened by a combination of weeds and herbivores, but also habitat destruction, disease, and a loss of nutrient rich guano.

This species is Lepidium solandri, the Alexander cress. It is found only in the central South Island, from central Otago into the Mackenzie. It is a dryland specialist, which is threatened by rabbits, livestock, weeds, and habitat destruction.

This species, and several other local dryland endemics used to span several kilometers of rolling dry hillside alongside the Mata-au/Clutha River. Today however, their habitat is dwindling, as large amounts of dry country throughout the region is converted into dairy farms, housing, and orchards. Here on the Pisa Flats, only one small strip no wider than 260 metres is left, flanked on all sides by cherry trees, vineyards, and the mansions of their wealthy beneficiaries.

While invasive herbivores and weeds are complex issues, complicated by funding and property boundaries, habitat loss is an unnecessary part of life. Rather, this destruction has been done by wealthy corporate landowners in the interests of profit, made possible by the planning decisions of local councils hell-bent on increasing rate income.

16/07/2026

The Conservation Amendment Bill has proved not just to be the "most significant reform of conservation legislation in nearly 40 years" as Tama Potaka claimed, but also the trigger of one of the largest surges in public support for conservation in living memory. While this has forced the coalition to capitulate in one sense - removing the provisions for the disposal and exchange of conservation land - the bill still remains a significant threat to conservation in Aotearoa.

In my recent article for the International Socialist Organisation I discuss how this bill (and other recent changes) could impact conservation. I also reassess the history of struggles for conservation reform as class struggle, and draw out the economic processes that are driving roll-backs in gains won in previous rounds of struggle. Finally I discuss the alternative - a socialist political-economy that could remove the binary between conservation land and productive land, and work to soften the contradictions between humanity and nature.

In May 2026, conservation minister Tama Potaka introduced the Conservation Amendment Bill, the biggest proposed overhaul of Aotearoa’s conservation system since the Department of Conservation (DOC) was created in 1987. The bill would shift DOC’s purpose from protecting nature to managing “asse...

04/11/2025

It's a bit overdue to announce this, but a little while ago I finished my thesis and it's just recently been published in the Victoria University library. This was a long time coming, and I'm very thankful to my supervisors, Dr Peter Ritchie and Dr Carlos Lehnebach for their support, as well as the support from all of my friends and family, and my partner .

I had a few interesting findings, most importantly, that the flowering times of many of our orchid species are getting earlier every year. To be specific, about half of my 21 study species were flowering earlier in 2024 than in 1920. There were plenty other interesting bits - so please have a read if you're interested (though I may make my findings a feature of future posts).

None of my findings would have been possible without the data provided by the herbaria held at Te Papa, Auckland Museum, and by Manaaki Whenua, nor the support provided by their amazing staff. I'm equally indebted to iNaturalistNZ, and all of the many people who have uploaded their orchid photos to it, or spent time curating the observations held by it.

If you would like to still contribute to my project, you can. I'll be looking out for orchid photos, particularly old ones taken from before 2010, and even better, ones from before 2000. Regardless of the date, I'll use any observation of my study species uploaded before I publish my main findings, likely towards the beginning of next year.

https://openaccess.wgtn.ac.nz/articles/thesis/Climate_Change_and_the_Phenology_and_Distribution_of_Native_Orchids_in_Aotearoa_New_Zealand/29919299?file=57208145

18/10/2025

What a pleasure it was to see the Nationally Critical Pimelea mimosa last weekend, near Te Mata Peak in the Hawkes Bay, where it is endemic. This very, very rare species is found only on that peak, a condition that it shares with the 'temata' form of the slightly more widespread Chionochloa flavicans. Unfortunately, due to fires, habitat destruction, weeds, and collection by overzealous botanists, it has become very rare. However, in recent years it has apparently been well looked after by a local conservation group.

This species used to be considered part of the species Pimelea aridula until 2011, when it was described for the first time. Like many other local endemics it was first recognised as distinct by Tony Druce, though, like the majority of the Pimelea genus, it was described by C.J. Burrows.

P. mimosa grows only on limestone cliffs, as well as talus and soils derived from limestone rock. A long chain of limestone exists from roughly Te Mata down to Puketoi in the Manawatu and near Ruakōkoputuna in southern Wairarapa. This chain is made up of billions upon billions of long-dead shellfish. These scallops, brachiopods, and clams lived 2-5 million years ago, before dying in layers and being compressed into rock. Now that they're exposed to the elements, they produce basic soils (those with high pH). Usually, such conditions make poor growing conditions for plants, because high pH conditions can deprive plant roots of water. Yet, these environments can often lead to the natural selection of species and varieties of plants that are adapted to basic soils. In the North Island, there are very few limestone endemic species (only 9 of 152 total NZ taxa; Rogers, Courtney, & Heenan, 2018)

Further reading:
Rogers, G.M.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B. 2018: The calcicolous vascular flora of New Zealand: life forms, taxonomy, biogeography and conservation status. Science for Conservation 331. Department of Conservation, Wellington. 37 p.

29/03/2025

What an exciting find this was- Daucus glochidiatus/New Zealand carrot!

Like the common name (and binomial name, if you're also a nerd) suggests, D. glochidiatus is indeed a carrot. It's a small, annual herb of open sites, that can easily be confused with the many introduced species in the carrot family, Apiaceae (such as Daucus glochidiatus and Torilis sp.). Unlike the other species, D. glochidiatus is usually tiny (usually